Odor-annoyance estimates from roadtraffic combustion exhausts: Calibration with master scaling using pyridine as a reference

The present field study addressed the need for a procedure that provides a defined unit of measurement of perceived annoyance from environmental odors, calibrating the estimates for individual scaling behavior and context effects. In including 25 subjects, the purpose was to demonstrate the applicability of the master-scale procedure with magnitude estimation to perform such a calibration of odor-annoyance estimates for target stimuli such as road-traffic combustion exhausts (13 000 vehicles/d; averaging 47 μg/m³ over the day/night with peaks exceeding 100 μg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide; NO₂). For comparison, calibrated estimates were also obtained for a backyard expected to be considerably less polluted (comparable with 18 μg/m³ of NO₂) and for blank stimuli presented indoors. The data transformation for the calibration procedure with which annoyance is expressed in either master-scale units or pyridine equivalents requires estimates of a reference stimulus for which seven concentrations of pyridine were used. The results provide an illustration of master scaling of odor annoyance, and imply that use of a modulus (standard stimulus with a predefined annoyance magnitude), in contrast to master scaling, is not sufficient for calibration for individual scaling behavior and context effects.     

Noise and annoyance in working environments

This paper describes a field study of the correlation between annoyance and occupational exposure to noise. Measurements of noise and annoyance were made in different types of working environments with noise dominated by low-frequency, middle-frequency or high-frequency components. The noise was described in terms of dB(A), dB(B), dB(C), dB(D), and dB(lin). Annoyance ratings of the occupational noise and of two verbally described reference noises were collected, using a rating scale. As a result of calibration, a better correlation between noise level and rated annoyance was obtained. The A-weighting procedure did not produce a better prediction of annoyance than any of the other weighting methods.     

Neighbour noise annoyance and psychiatric diseases

Data from a national sample survey (interview data) were used to test for possible correlations between different measures of noise annoyance and measures of psychiatric problems/diseases. The test was accomplished by crosstab programme for correlation between variables. The main variables were noise annoyance from different sources and psychiatric problems/diseases. Age and sex were used as covariables. A correlation was shown between neighbour noise annoyance and various indicators of self-reported psychiatric problems/diseases in the middle age groups, more prevalent and stronger for women than for men. The results, in accordance with research in other countries, indicate that people with psychiatric problems/diseases are more sensitive towards neighbour noise than the rest of the population. The same survey and the same method showed only low or no correlation between other sources of noise annoyance and psychiatric diseases.     

Testing of the European Union exposure-response relationships and annoyance equivalents model for annoyance due to transportation noises: The need of revised exposure-response relationships and annoyance equivalents model

An in situ survey was performed in 8 French cities in 2012 to study the annoyance due to combined transportation noises. As the European Commission recommends to use the exposure–response relationships suggested by Miedema and Oudshoorn [Environmental Health Perspective, 2001] to predict annoyance due to single transportation noise, these exposure–response relationships were tested using the annoyance due to each transportation noise measured during the French survey. These relationships only enabled a good prediction in terms of the percentages of people highly annoyed by road traffic noise. For the percentages of people annoyed and a little annoyed by road traffic noise, the quality of prediction is weak. For aircraft and railway noises, prediction of annoyance is not satisfactory either. As a consequence, the annoyance equivalents model of Miedema [The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2004], based on these exposure-response relationships did not enable a good prediction of annoyance due to combined transportation noises. Local exposure-response relationships were derived, following the whole computation suggested by Miedema and Oudshoorn [Environmental Health Perspective, 2001]. They led to a better calculation of annoyance due to each transportation noise in the French cities. A new version of the annoyance equivalents model was proposed using these new exposure-response relationships. This model enabled a better prediction of the total annoyance due to the combined transportation noises. These results encourage therefore to improve the annoyance prediction for noise in isolation with local or revised exposure-response relationships, which will also contribute to improve annoyance modeling for combined noises. With this aim in mind, a methodology is proposed to consider noise sensitivity in exposure-response relationships and in the annoyance equivalents model. The results showed that taking into account such variable did not enable to enhance both exposure-response relationships and the annoyance equivalents model.     

Comparative study of the effects of infrasound and low-frequency sound with those of audible sound on sleep

In order to compare the effects of infrasound and low-frequency sound on sleep with those of audible sound, healthy students were exposed to two kinds of sound, (a) infrasound and low-frequency sound (10, 20, 40, and 60 Hz), and (b) synthesized traffic noise with peak sound pressure level in low-frequency range (sound composed of low and audible frequency), throughout their sleep with the recording of the students' EEG. The effects were evaluated by the “reaction rate”. Concerning sound (a), the sound pressure level which causes the reactions of over 50% for the first time was used as the threshold sound pressure level signifying the occurrence of sleep disturbance. The threshold sound pressure levels of 10 and 20 Hz could not be evaluated. The threshold sound pressure levels of 40 and 63 Hz were 95 and 90 dB, respectively. With both sounds, the reaction rate was the highest in sleep stage 1 and the lowest in sleep stage 3+4. The pattern of sleep was little affected by sound (a). On the other hand, it was considerably affected by sound (b). These results suggest that audible sound has more harmful effects on sleep, compared with infrasound and low-frequency sound.     

Perceived Influence of Proenvironmental Testimonials

Recommendations for communicators to make environmental issues more concrete in public align with the tenets of exemplification theory. Audiences may also engage with messages that they perceive as influencing them more than others, an outcome that aligns with the third-person effects framework. What is not well known is how these two areas of research intersect, namely, how exemplars about environmental issues may impact perceived message influence on the self-relative to others. This study examines the effects of testimonials on the perceived influence of environmental messages. Two experiments, each conducted simultaneously in Singapore and the Midwestern US, suggest that university students perceive themselves to be more influenced than others by proenvironmental messages. The second experiment shows that this perceptual bias is related to message desirability and individuals’ environmental values. Both experiments reveal location-specific effects, which is useful for understanding how to communicate environmental problems to global audiences.     

Residential exposure to outdoor air pollution from livestock operations and perceived annoyance among citizens

Epidemiological studies have shown that residential exposure to livestock odors can affect the health and wellbeing of rural citizens. However, exposure–response models for this relationship have not been developed. One of the main challenges is to identify a compound that can be used as proxy for livestock odor exposure. In this paper we developed models that describe the relationship between long-term averaged outdoor residential ammonia (NH₃) exposures and livestock odor annoyance experienced by rural residents, and investigated person-related variables associated with annoyance responses. We used emission-based atmospheric dispersion modeling data to estimate household-specific outdoor concentrations and survey data to characterize the study subjects. Binomial and multinomial logistic regressions were used for model development. Residential NH₃ exposure was positively associated with moderate, high and extreme odor annoyance (adjusted odds ratio = 10.59; 95% confidence interval: 1.35–83.13, for each unit increase in Log_eNH₃ exposure). Specific characteristics of the exposed subjects (i.e., age, time per week spent at home, presence of children at home and job) act as co-determinants of odor annoyance responses. Predictive models showed classification accuracies of 67–72%. The results suggest that NH₃ exposure in the residential outdoor environment can be used as a predictor of livestock odor annoyance in population studies.     

Noise Impact and Improvement on Indoors Acoustic Comfort for the Building Adjacent to Heavy Traffic Road

A good acoustic environment is absolutely essential to maintaining a high level satisfaction and moral health among residents. Noise and other boresome sounds come from both in- door and outdoor sources. For the residential buildings adjacent to heavy traffic roads, outdoors traffic noise is the main source that affects indoor acoustic quality and health. Ventilation and outdoor noise prevention become a pair of contradictions for the residents in China nowadays for those buildings adjacent to heavy traffic roads. It is investigated that traffic noise emission is mainly con- stituted by the motors of trucks, buses and motorcycles as well as brake. In this paper, two methods of traffic noise reduction on the indoor sound environment and comfort are carried out to study and compare the residential buildings adjacent to heavy traffic roadway in a city. One is to install noise barriers on the two sides of the roadway, which consist of sound-proof glass and plas- tic materials. The effect of sound-insulation of this method is heavily dependent on the relative distance between the noise bar- rier and indoors. A reduction of sound with an average pressure level of 2–15dB is achieved on the places behind and under the noise barrier. However, for the equivalent of noise barrier height, the noise reduction effect is little. As for the places of higher than the noise barrier, the traffic noise will be even strengthened by 3–7dB. Noise increment can be seen at the points of distance farther than 15m and height more than noise barrier; the noise reduction effect is not satisfactory or even worsened. In addition, not every location is appropriate to install the noise barrier along the heavy traffic roads. The other method of noise reduction for the buildings adjacent to heavy traffic is to install the airproof and soundproof windows, which is the conversion from natural venti- lation to mechanical ventilation. A reduction of sound with an average pressure level of 5dB to 17dB can be achieved compared with common glass windows, if adopting sound proof glass win- dows. These two methods are helpful to isolate high frequency noise but not for low frequency noise. For those frequency noises, installing thick and cotton curtain and porous carpet can only decrease 2.4–4.5dB, which hardly contributes to indoor sound comfort, so further study is demanded to cut down traffic noise, especially to cut down the low frequency noise.     

Analysis of transportation carbon emissions and its potential for reduction in China

The transportation industry is an essential sector for carbon emissions mitigation.This paper firstly used the LMDI(Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index)decomposition method to establish factors decomposition model on China’s transportation carbon emission.Then,a quantitative analysis was performed to study the factors influencing China’s transportation carbon emissions from 1991 to 2008,which are identified as transportation energy efficiency,transportation structure and transportation development.The results showed that:(1)The impact of transportation development on transportation carbon emissions showed pulling function.Its contribution value to carbon emissions remained at high growth since 1991 and showed an exponential growth trend.(2)The impact of transportation structure on transportation carbon emissions showed promoting function in general,but its role in promoting carbon emissions decreased year by year.And with the continuous optimization of transportation structure,the promoting effect decreased gradually and showed the inversed"U"trend.(3)The impact of transportation energy efficiency on transportation carbon emissions showed a function of inhibition before pulling.In order to predict the potential of carbon emission reduction,three scenarios were set.Analysis of the scenarios showed that if greater intensity emission reduction measures are taken,the carbon emissions will reduce by 31.01 million tons by 2015 and by 48.81 million tons by 2020.     

Road-traffic noise and factors influencing noise annoyance in an urban population

Noise annoyance is influenced by sound-related factors: type of noise, noise level and frequency, and person-related factors—physiological, psychological, and social factors. Prior to implementation of the Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council in Serbia, there was a need for the first comprehensive study on noise annoyance in Serbian urban population. The aim of this study was to determine principal factors for high noise annoyance in an adult urban population and to assess their predictive value. A cross-sectional study was performed on 3097 adult residents of a downtown municipality in Belgrade (1217 men and 1880 women), aged 18–96 years. Equivalent noise levels [Leq (dBA)] were measured during day, evening and night in all streets of the municipality. Noise annoyance was estimated using self-reported annoyance scale. Noise annoyance showed strong correlation with noise levels, personal characteristics and some housing conditions. Dose–response relationship was found between the percentage of highly annoyed residents and Lden. Logistic regression model identified increased risk for a high level of noise annoyance with regard to: orientation of living room/bedroom toward the street (Odds Ratio = 2.60; 95% Confidence Interval = 2.04–3.31), duration of stay at apartment during the day [OR = 1.04, 95%CI = 1.02–1.06 (per hour)], noise sensitivity [OR = 1.04, 95%CI = 1.03–1.04 (per scale unit)], and nighttime road-traffic noise level [OR = 1.03, 95%CI = 1.02–1.04 (per decibel)].     

Policy-related goals for community response studies

Many aspects of community noise policies are based on information about people's reactions to noise. Studies of community response to noise can make direct contributions to public policy if a major goal is to report the effects of community and acoustical variables on annoyance in decibel equivalent units. Three other goals are of lesser importance but deserve more attention than they have received: specifying the shape of dose/response relationships, developing a ratio-level measurement technique for noise annoyance (magnitude scaling) and predicting the public's actions toward noise. Achieving these goals requires the widespread adoption of design and analysis approaches which have been only sporadically applied to the study of annoyance in communities: the calculation of the decibel equivalence of effects as well as correlation coefficients, the reporting of confidence intervals as well as statistical significance tests, the evaluation of sigmoid-shaped dose/response curves, and the evaluation of the effect of community as well as individual differences on the accuracy of the survey results.     

Indoor air quality and minimum ventilation rate

In a 30-m³ test chamber the air pollutants caused by man were measured. Variables were the number of persons and the rate of air change. During 2-h test sessions the temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide, and intensity of odors were measured. The relationship between the perceived odor intensities and the concentrations of carbon dioxide-independent of the number of persons and the air change rate—was observed. At air change rates of 12–15 m³/person/h, the carbon dioxide concentration was not higher than 0.15% and the odor intensity was evaluated only as a “slight annoyance.” Higher ventilation rates are necessary if smoking and increased physical activities are done in the rooms.     

Annoyance due to aircraft noise has increased over the years—Results of the HYENA study

In the HYENA study (HYpertension and Exposure to Noise near Airports) noise annoyances due to aircraft and road traffic noise were assessed in subjects that lived in the vicinity of 6 major European airports using the 11-point ICBEN scale (International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise). A distinction was made between the annoyance during the day and during the night. L_den and L_night were considered as indicators of noise exposure. Pooled data analyses showed clear exposure–response relationships between the noise level and the noise annoyance for both exposures. The exposure–response curves for road noise were congruent with the EU standard curves used for predicting the number of highly noise annoyed subjects in European communities. Annoyance ratings due to aircraft noise, however, were higher than predicted by the EU standard curves. The data supports other findings suggesting that the people's attitude towards aircraft noise has changed over the years, and that the EU standard curve for aircraft noise should be modified.     

A Structural Equation Model of Residents＇ Support for Mega Event

The aim of this article is to develop a structural equation model to assess key factors of residents' support for hosting mega event based on previous literature. The model consisted of five latent constructs and eight path hypotheses. A survey was conducted in Shanghai before 2010 World Expo. It was found that the support for mega events is affected directly and/or indirectly by four determinants factors: perceived benefits, perceived costs, personal benefits and community attachment, and support relies heavily on perceived benefits rather than costs. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in an attempt to understand local residents' support for a mega event in different economic and cultural settings.     

A Structural Equation Model of Residents’ Support for Mega Event

Abstract

The aim of this article is to develop a structural equation model to assess key factors of residents’ support for hosting mega event based on previous literature. The model consisted of five latent constructs and eight path hypotheses. A survey was conducted in Shanghai before 2010 World Expo. It was found that the support for mega events is affected directly and/or indirectly by four determinants factors: perceived benefits, perceived costs, personal benefits and community attachment, and support relies heavily on perceived benefits rather than costs. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in an attempt to understand local residents’ support for a mega event in different economic and cultural settings.     

Science Communication and Stakeholder Expertise: Insights from Sustainability Science*

Communicating science is a multifaceted and complex process, particularly in sustainability science where researchers directly engage with non-academic stakeholder partners. In this insight, we explore the relationship between science communication behaviour and perceptions of stakeholder scientific expertise in a large-scale sustainability-focused research project in the Northeastern United States. We find that higher levels of perceived scientific expertise are associated with dialogic and participatory models of communication, and lower levels of perceived scientific expertise are associated with dialogic and diffusion models of communication. This work, while small in scope, highlights the utility of attending to perceptions of expertise within stakeholder engagement contexts. Implications, limitations, and opportunities for future research are discussed.     

The influence of air temperature on the perception of body odor

Ambient temperature may influence both the emission and the perception of human odor. This paper studies how human odor is perceived at different temperatures. The intensity of human odor in an auditorium was judged by an odor panel in an adjacent space. The ventilation rate of the occupied auditorium was 5–17 L/sec person. A continuous sample of odorous air was exhausted from the auditorium through a glass tube to an odor test station. One-half of the air flow was heated 1–7 K, and the other half was unheated. The odor panel was asked to compare the odor intensity of the two air flows. The air flow judged to have the strongest odor was stepwise dilluted with clean air (air temperature difference maintained). The dilution required to provide the same odor intensity in the two air flows was estimated. At air temperatures 23–32 °C no significant influence of temperature on perceived intensity of body odor was found. The ventillation requirement in auditoria and similar spaces is likely to be independent of the temperature level, provided that the occupants are kept thermally neutral or cooler, so that little or no perspiration occurs.     

The dichotomy of relative humidity on indoor air quality

Dry and irritated mucous membranes of the eyes and airways are common symptoms reported in office-like environments. Earlier studies suggested that indoor pollutants were responsible. We have re-evaluated, by review of the literature, how low relative humidity (RH) may influence the immediately perceived indoor air quality (IAQ), including odour, and cause irritation symptoms (i.e. longer-term perceived IAQ). "Relative humidity" were searched in major databases, and combined with: air quality, cabin air, dry eyes, formaldehyde, inflammation, mucous membranes, offices, ozone, pungency, sensory irritation, particles, precorneal tear film, sick building syndrome, stuffy air, and VOCs. The impact of RH on the immediately and longer-term perceived IAQ by VOCs, ozone, and particles is complex, because both the thermodynamic condition and the emission characteristics of building materials are influenced. Epidemiological, clinical, and human exposure studies indicate that low RH plays a role in the increase of reporting eye irritation symptoms and alteration of the precorneal tear film. These effects may be exacerbated during visual display unit work. The recommendation that IAQ should be "dry and cool" may be useful for evaluation of the immediately perceived IAQ in material emission testing, but should be considered cautiously about the development of irritation symptoms in eyes and upper airways during a workday. Studies indicate that RH about 40% is better for the eyes and upper airways than levels below 30%. The optimal RH may differ for the eyes and the airways regarding desiccation of the mucous membranes.     

Transportation noise and exposed population of an urban area in the Republic of Korea

Using noise prediction models, we explored the transportation noise levels of Youngdeungpo-gu, an urbanized area of Seoul Metropolitan City in the Republic of Korea. In addition, we estimated the population exposed to transportation noise levels and determined how many people are vulnerable to noise levels that would cause serious annoyance and sleep disturbance. Compared with the World Health Organization [WHO] recommended levels, the daytime and nighttime transportation noise levels were still high enough to have the two psychosocial effects on people when considering the recommended levels of the World Health Organization (WHO; 55 decibels [dB[A]] and 40 dB[A] for daytime and nighttime, respectively). Particularly, nighttime transportation noise was discovered to be harmful to a wider area and more people than daytime noise. Approximately 91% of the Youngdeungpo-gu area experienced nighttime transportation noise levels exceeding those recommended by WHO. It was estimated that as much as 80% of the people in the study area were exposed to transportation noise levels >40 dB[A] during nighttime. Taking this into account, there is an urgent need to control and reduce transportation noise levels in Seoul, to protect residents against the potential ill health effects caused by urban transportation.