The Diet of a Roosting Population of Asian Glossy Starling Aplonis panayensis in Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Communal roosting by urban birds, such as crows, mynas, and starlings, can be a public nuisance due to excessive noise and fouling of the surroundings with droppings. Food availability within proximity to the roosting area is one of the key factors influencing roosting site preference and fidelity. The diets of roosting mynas and crows have been well-studied, yet little is known about the diet of the Asian glossy starling (AGS), Aplonis panayensis. This study focused on assessing the diet of roosting AGS and food resource availability around the roosting area. The AGS diet was assessed through microscopic analysis of stomach contents and droppings. The diet mainly consisted of fruits (76%) with a minor component of animal materials, i.e. ants, snails, and beetle larvae. Intact seeds found in the samples were identified using DNA barcoding. Seven out of the nine plant species detected were new records for the AGS diet. The most common fruit found in the samples was Trema orientalis, which grows extensively along roadsides within foraging areas of AGS. The availability of fruits of different fast-growing pioneer species around the roosting site ensured a continuous supply of food to the birds. Animal materials, which were consumed by chance during foraging, supplemented the fruit in the bird’s diet. Hence, the birds’ preference for the roosting site may have been influenced by the availability of various food resources around it.

Prioritizing the noise control methods by using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method in an Iranian tire factory

BACKGROUND: Noise is a common harmful physical factor in the work environment. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to prioritize noise control methods using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in a tire factory. METHODS: The study, which adopted a cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical design, was conducted in the baking hall of an Iranian tire manufacturing factory in 2018. 4 criteria (namely implementation and maintenance cost, method applicability, method effectiveness and efficiency, and intervention in the process) and 8 alternatives (including reducing individuals’ noise exposure time, designing and installing sound isolation chamber for operators, using of earmuffs and earplug simultaneously, changing processes or operational procedures in machinery with excessive noise generation, forming noise control engineering teams, requiring people in charge to quickly fix the leaks and change baking press washers on time, using acoustic panels in the ceiling and walls, and designing and manufacturing silencer and nuzzle for the steam and compressed air outlet of baking press machinery) were selected. Then, to prioritize noise control methods based on objectives, criteria, and alternatives, an AHP questionnaire was developed and completed by domain experts and noise control specialists. Data analysis was performed using Expert Choice V. 11 and Excel. RESULTS: The results showed that the inconsistency rate in all cases was less than 10%, hence the consistency of responses was approved. Based on experts’ opinion about the selected criteria, “implementation and maintenance cost” had the highest weight (0.481), while “method effectiveness and efficiency” recorded the lowest one (0.046). With regard to the alternatives, “change in the process” registered the greatest weight (0.193), whereas “individuals’ noise exposure time” had the lowest weight (0.046). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the final weights, the most appropriate noise control methods in this industry are changing processes in machinery with excessive noise generation, forming noise control engineering team, and manufacturing silencer and nuzzle for the steam and compressed air outlet of baking press machinery. Furthermore, AHP is a suitable approach for prioritizing decisions related to noise control.

ASSESSMENT OF THE ACOUSTIC EXPOSURE ON INDUSTRIAL WORKERS

Practical experience in the assessment of occupational risk from exposure to excessive noise levels allows us to identify a number of problems. The main ones are the lack of adequate information about the levels of impacting noise and full control of the effects from the health side. The analysis of international experience indicates the need to introduce new approaches to monitoring noise levels into domestic practice, including using individual monitoring devices that minimize the contribution of uncertainties; and identification of the realized effects of its impact, including mandatory audiometry when applying for a job and annual monitoring of the dynamics of hearing changes; evaluation of the effectiveness of the applied PPE in real production conditions.

Assessment of Noise Pollution at Different Bus Stations in Lucknow City of Uttar Pradesh, India

Noise is word related to undesire sound which disrupts quality of life .when the noise present in ambience exceeds the prescribed limits is called as noise .Excessive noise disrupts day to day activity such as sleep, conversation. It is a type of pollutant which was earlier neglected but as the growth and development took place, excessive noise started to disturb human activity .this lead to identification, quantification and regulation of noise by WHO .the paper present the noise pollution data interpretation of two bus stations of Lucknow city in the month of February 2021. Exposure to elevated level of noise may cause serious weight on the sound-related and sensory system This study deals with assessment of noise pollution at bus station of Lucknow. The noise level was monitored at Charbagh, Awadh and Nahariya for two day each with help of sound pressure level (SPL 1352). Since these three bus stations are inter as well as intra state bus station as they connect the Lucknow with various neighbouring districts so noise level generated here is quite high. Maximum numbers of buses are being operated from these three bus stations to cater the demand of people. With help of noise level various noise parameters were calculated such as L10, L90, L50, Leq, NC, LNP and TNI. for the purpose of proper study and representation of noise present at bus station. Leq value at Charbagh ranges from 73.5-82.3dB and for Awadh it ranges from74.6-82.7dB and for Nahariya it ranges from 77.8-84.4dB .It is observed that all the selected locations, the level of noise was found to be above prescribed noise standard level of CPCB. Such as high level of noise at bus station cause mental discomfort to passengers that needs to be taken care of while designing the bus terminal and proper attention must be paid to reduce to reduce mental agony to passengers as the number of buses are increasing so the noise level. Since Lucknow is still under the process of development thus it becomes to identify locations of noise hot spot and place suitable solutions and strategies to control the menace of noise pollution.

NOISE REDUCTION IN CONTOUR LINES AND SLOPE MAPS FROM MEDIUM/HIGH-DENSITY LIDAR DATA

The use of medium/high-density LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data for land modelling and DTM (Digital TerrainModel) is becoming more widespread. This level of detail is difficult to achieve with other means or materials. However,the horizontal and vertical geometric accuracy of the LIDAR points obtained, although high, is not homogeneous.Horizontally you can reach precisions around 30-50 cm, while the vertical precision is rarely greater than 10-15 cm. Theresult of LIDAR flights, are clouds of points very close to each other (30-60 cm) with significant elevation variations, evenif the terrain is flat. And this makes the triangulated models TIN (Triangulated Irregular Network) obtained from such LIDARdata especially chaotic. Since contour lines are generated directly from such triangulated models, their appearance showsexcessive noise, with excessively broken and rapidly closed on themselves. Getting smoothed contour liness, withoutdecreasing accuracy, is a challenge for terrain model software. In addition, triangulated models obtained from LIDAR dataare the basis for future slope maps of the land. And for the same reason explained in the previous paragraph, these slopemaps generated from high or medium density LIDAR point clouds are especially heterogeneous. Achieving uniformity andgreater adjustment to reality by reducing the natural noise of LIDAR data is another added challenge. In this paper, theproblem of excessive noise from LIDAR data of high (around 8 points/m2) and medium density (around 2 points/m2) in thegeneration of contour lines and terrain slope maps is raised and solutions are proposed to reduce this noise. All this, in thearea of specific software for the management of TIN models and GIS (Geographic Information System) and adapting thealternatives proposed by these programmes.

Methodological basis of road acoustic researches

Transport is one of the most burdensome negative sources affecting the natural environment. Long-term exposure of the body to exhaust pollution can cause health problems and, in the worst case, even lead to death. In addition to exhaust emissions, traffic noise is another equally important issue. Due to its nature, variability over time or the design diversity of vehicles in the traffic flow, it is a phenomenon difficult to define. Like exhaust pollution, it affects people's health and quality of life. In addition to its direct impact on the human physical system, it can also cause psychosomatic disorders, which is why a detailed analysis of road noise taking into account the real operation of the vehicle is so important. The paper presents the basic concepts related to the problem of traffic noise in the world, determines the sources of noise in vehicles and the methodology of conducting acoustic road tests. At the final stage of the scientific paper, methods of reducing excessive noise levels in large urban agglomerations were also presented, and the effectiveness of using noise barriers on selected parts of the city road network using proprietary acoustic tests was assessed.

Modernization of the Public Transport Bus Fleet in the Context of Low-Carbon Development in Poland

The development of urban transport in recent years has become one of the most important issues related to improving the quality of life in Polish cities. Excessive pollution in the form of greenhouse gases and other harmful substances from buses affects people’s health as does the excessive noise. This article analysed the measures being taken to reduce emissions, and the results showed that it is possible to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 28 thousand megagrams (Mg) per annum. Policymakers in Poland should consider limiting electricity generation through coal combustion and recognize, at least temporarily, CNG/LNG-powered buses as low-carbon rolling stock and co-finance their purchase and the necessary infrastructure.

The impact of noise in early childhood settings: A New Zealand perspective

Excessive noise levels in early childhood centres have a direct impact on the learning of young children, as well as on the wellbeing of teachers. Psycho-acoustic studies show that noise is a key factor contributing to elevated adult stress levels and annoyance, leading to lower levels of adult sensitivity to children’s needs and fewer direct interactions with them. Longer term, local and international research indicates correlations between excessive noise in early childhood education (ECE) centres and health problems, such as to hearing loss, voice strain, obesity, diabetes, and cardiac conditions. Noise as a chaos factor in early childhood settings undermines wellbeing of both adults and children. Because noise negatively impacts on quality relationship and communication, children’s language development is also impacted. Yet noise within New Zealand early childhood settings is under-researched, under-regulated, and under-monitored. Drawing on local and international research and on a survey of New Zealand early childhood teachers, this article recommends regulating for the creation of quieter environments for the benefit of teachers and learners, the adults and children in early childhood settings.

Detection of anomalies in the UV–vis reflectances from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument

Various instrumental or geophysical artifacts, such as saturation, stray light or obstruction of light (either coming from the instrument or related to solar eclipses), negatively impact satellite measured ultraviolet and visible Earthshine radiance spectra and downstream retrievals of atmospheric and surface properties derived from these spectra. In addition, excessive noise such as from cosmic-ray impacts, prevalent within the South Atlantic Anomaly, can also degrade satellite radiance measurements. Saturation specifically pertains to observations of very bright surfaces such as sunglint over open water or thick clouds. When saturation occurs, additional photoelectric charge generated at the saturated pixel may overflow to pixels adjacent to a saturated area and be reflected as a distorted image in the final sensor output. When these effects cannot be corrected to an acceptable level for science-quality retrievals, flagging of the affected pixels is indicated. Here, we introduce a straightforward detection method that is based on the correlation, r, between the observed Earthshine radiance and solar irradiance spectra over a 10 nm spectral range; our decorrelation index (DI for brevity) is simply defined as a DI of 1−r. DI increases with anomalous additive effects or excessive noise in either radiances, the most likely cause in data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), or irradiances. DI is relatively straightforward to use and interpret and can be computed for different wavelength intervals. We developed a set of DIs for two spectral channels of the OMI, a hyperspectral pushbroom imaging spectrometer. For each OMI spatial measurement, we define 14 wavelength-dependent DIs within the OMI visible channel (350–498 nm) and six DIs in its ultraviolet 2 (UV2) channel (310–370 nm). As defined, DIs reflect a continuous range of deviations of observed spectra from the reference irradiance spectrum that are complementary to the binary saturation possibility warning (SPW) flags currently provided for each individual spectral or spatial pixel in the OMI radiance data set. Smaller values of DI are also caused by a number of geophysical factors; this allows one to obtain interesting physical results on the global distribution of spectral variations.

Research on the Sound Insulation Properties of Membrane-type Acoustic Metamaterials

Low- and medium-frequency noise from ship cabins is difficult to control effectively. Excessive noise can seriously affect the acoustic stealth performance of ships. A novel membrane-type acoustic metamaterial is proposed in this paper with light weight and good sound insulation performance at low frequencies. The sound insulation performance of the metamaterial structure is analysed by using the acoustic-solid coupling module in COMSOL software. Then, the ability to change the sound insulation performance of membrane-type acoustic metamaterials with cell structure and material parameters is obtained. The research results in this paper provide powerful technical support for noise control in ship cabins.