New Kind Of Environment Research Articles

Results from The Quiet Project - UK Acoustic Community's response to Covid-19

The COVID-19 Lockdown created a new kind of environment both in the UK and globally, never experienced before or likely to occur again. A vital and time-critical working group was formed with the aim of gathering crowd-source high quality baseline noise levels and other supporting information across the UK during the lockdown and subsequent recovery period. The acoustic community were mobilised through existing networks (UK Acoustics Network, Association of Noise Consultants, and Institute of Acoustics) engaging private companies, public organisations, and academics to gather data in accessible places. A website was designed and developed to advertise the project, provide instructions and to formalise the uploading of noise data, observations, and Soundscape feedback. The data was collected at 99 locations by 80 acousticians (64 male, 16 female) using professional grade calibrated instrumentation with 83% of measurements including spectral data. The locations were spread across the British Isles covering 19 urban, 61 suburban, and 19 rural sites. The Lockdown 1 dataset consisted of a total of 1.6 GB of measurements and material (video, photos) covering 834 days between 1st April and 14th July 2020. This makes the award winning Quiet Project the largest ever noise and soundscape database ever recorded. As a government-funded research project the databank will be made publicly available to assist future research.

The quiet project-UK acoustic community’s response to COVID-19

The COVID-19 Lockdown created a new kind of environment both in the UK and globally, never experienced before or likely to occur again. A vital and time-critical working group was formed with the aim of gathering crowd-source high quality baseline noise levels and other supporting information across the UK during the lockdown and subsequent recovery period. The acoustic community were mobilised through existing networks engaging private companies, public organisations, and academics to gather data in accessible places. A website was designed and developed to advertise the project, provide instructions and to formalise the uploading of noise data, observations, and Soundscape feedback. In addition, pre-existing on-going measurements from major infrastructure projects, airport, and planning applications were gathered to create a data repository of 1.6 GB. The plan was to have regular 6 monthly national noise surveys, which turned into multiple Lockdown surveys. Noise data has been compared to the traffic flow data from the TRIS national wide permanent monitoring system. Ultimately, the databank will be used to establish the relation to other impacts such as air quality, air traffic, economic, and health and wellbeing. As publicly funded research the databank will be made publicly available to assist future research.

The Quiet Project – UK Acoustic Community’s response to COVID19 during the easing of lockdown

Abstract The COVID-19 lockdown created a new kind of environment both in the UK and globally, never experienced before or likely to occur again. A vital and time-critical working group was formed with the aim of gathering crowd-source high quality baseline noise levels and other supporting information across the UK during the lock-down and subsequent periods. The acoustic community were mobilised through existing networks engaging private companies, public organisations and academics to gather data in accessible places. In addition, pre-existing on-going measurements from major infrastructure projects, airport, and planning applications were gathered to create the largest possible databank. A website was designed and developed to advertise the project, provide instructions and to formalise the uploading of noise data, observations and soundscape feedback. Two case studies gathered in the latter stage of full lockdown are presented in the paper to illustrate the changes in the environmental noise conditions relative to transport activity. Ultimately the databank will be used to establish the relation to other impacts such as air quality, air traffic, economic, and health and wellbeing. As publicly funded research the databank will be made publicly available to assist future research.

Effects of COVID-19 outbreak on the sound environment of the city of Milan, Italy

Abstract In this paper, we present the results of the noise monitoring in the urban area of Milan, Italy, associated with COVID-19 outbreak. In order to limit the diffusion of the pandemic, Italy adopted growing levels of restrictive measures, which ended with a 41-day lockdown from March 23 to May 3 2020. This action created a new kind of environment including a remarkable reduction of air, water and soil pollutants, together with a partial recovery of the ecosystems otherwise compromised. The presence of a permanent noise monitoring system made of 24 sensors installed in the city of Milan, allowed capturing the changes in the urban sound environment in a pre, during and post-lockdown period (months from February to June 2020). The comparison of the noise levels in terms of both absolute noise levels (Lden) and hourly noise profiles (median over lockdown period) with the same period of 2019, showed a dramatic reduction of the noise levels of approximately 6 dB. Splitting the contribution of all-non-traffic noises or anomalous noise events (ANE) from the recorded noise levels, we observe a greater contribution of the latter during the lockdown period. The use of DYNAMAP noise prediction system over an extended urban area allowed the evaluation of the population exposure to noise, estimating an increase of 14.9% and 16.4% of the exposed population to noises with Lden below 53 dB(A) and Lnight below 45 dB(A) with respect to 2019.

Investigation on clusters stability in DYNAMAP’s monitoring network during Covid-19 outbreak

Abstract From March 23rd to May 3rd 2020, Italy underwent a complete lockdown in the attempt to contain the spread of the pandemic due to Covid-19 outbreak. During this period, a new kind of environment has been experienced in all cities, resulting in an abatement of traffic noise levels. Consequently, due to the prohibition of all non-essential activities, traffic noise dynamics changed as well. In this paper, we analyse the data recorded from the permanent noise monitoring network installed in the pilot area of the city of Milan, Italy. The results show how, besides a dramatic reduction of the noise levels (about 6 dB on average), also the noise pattern was profoundly changed. This is particularly important in the framework of DYNAMAP, a statistically based European project able to predict traffic noise over an extended area based on the noise recorded by limited number of monitoring stations. The change of the traffic dynamics, resulting in different noise patterns of the normalized hourly median profiles for each sensor, pose some limitations about the use of such predicting tool during extraordinary situations such as that experienced during a lockdown.

Communal living: Religion, class, and the politics of dwelling in small-town Gujarat.

India witnesses a proliferation of ‘Muslim’ and ‘Hindu’ residential areas, which reflect deepening segregation along religious lines. This article explores the production of such spaces through a case study of Anand in central Gujarat. It uses the lens of ‘mobilities’ to critically interrogate the ‘Muslim ghetto’, a notion that has come to figure prominently as a conceptual framework in discussions on residential segregation in contemporary India, and proposes to consider the residential spaces of Muslims instead as ‘hubs’ of urban and regional connectivity. Avoiding a false dichotomy between segregation-as-seclusion and cohabitation-as-connecting, the article demonstrates how new kinds of environments reflect and facilitate new sets of social relations, and generates a fresh perspective of a Muslim area as a hub of intersecting mobilities within a context of rural and urban transformation.

Requirement of Cloud Analytics and Distributed Cloud Computing: An Initial Overview

A better and more streamlined user experience is the result of the research demonstrating how cloud analytics tools and software are particularly effective for processing vast data sets, producing insights in easily digestible formats on demand, and improving the user interface. Cloud computing is a large-scale information technology solution that can customize and deliver a new kind of environment based on information technology to everyday users, in particular to IT and computing systems users. Cloud computing was developed by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. The use of cloud computing comes with a multitude of features and aspects, including internet backup. It comes with just-in-time delivery of standardized storage process, management, and infrastructure, as a measurable service, on a 'Pay-as-you-go' type, and is therefore widely accessible in various organizations and institutions. Cloud computing and its load balancing are essential features that must be taken care of to maintain a healthy Information Management system. In a condensed form, this paper discusses a significant number of topics that are connected to the given subject.

1A1-N05 知能化空間における人間親和型小型パーソナルビークルシステムの提案(インテリジェント・ロボティクス・スペース(IT,RTとETの融合))

Today, personal vehicle to expand our mobility called personal vehicle is needed to cope with low carbon society and diversification of individual mobility,. There are several small vehicles, but we need a new thesis of designing and controlling personal vehicles, because there are some difference between general vehicle-used environment and personal vehicle-used environment. In such a new kind of environment, vehicles must have close relationship with drivers. To have close relationship, therefore, personal vehicles must be smaller and lighter. In addition , we have to consider driver's psychological and biological status and control them. The authors define such personal vehicles as Affinitive Personal Vehicle and propose a novel personal vehicle control system using iSpace.

Quick Facts to Inform a Young Year

TOWARD the end of any year comes a prolific rush of products. In the education industry, this means a rash of new reports, whether end-of-the-year studies, deliverables for funders, or incremental reports that add to the knowledge base for predicting events in the new year. This year, three such items provide intriguing new knowledge. VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOLS Did you know that 28 states have established statewide virtual high schools? Two researchers at the Education Commission of the States--Melodye Bush and Michael Colasanti--recently completed a database of these statewide programs by thoroughly combing through state statutes, session laws, state board rules and regulations, and documents from state departments of education. The program in New Mexico is a pilot, but the other 27 provide statewide access to a central resource for online coursework. The range of options is wide. Diploma-granting or supplemental. Most statewide virtual high schools do not actually grant diplomas. Only those in Arizona and North Dakota appear to do that. In most states, the local district remains the diploma-granting entity. However, Utah's virtual high school can issue a diploma to students who are home-schooled, have dropped out, are past graduation age, or are ineligible to graduate for other specific reasons. Focus areas. Statewide virtual high schools typically have a specific focus, such as core curriculum, accelerated courses, or credit recovery. Twenty-two state programs offer core curriculum. West Virginia offers non-core electives, and Virginia's virtual high school focuses on Advanced Placement (AP) courses. A federal grant allows the University of Iowa to run the Iowa Online AP Academy. Capping the number of courses. Five states set a cap on the number of credits a student may earn online in a specific period. For example, Georgia limits virtual course-taking to one semester course during the regular school year. Hawaii's limit is two classes per semester. Other states' limits typically range from three to six credits per year. Such limits allow more predictability with regard to the costs of virtual school programs and ensure that students take some courses in a traditional classroom setting, where they can benefit from interaction with peers and teachers. Online teachers. Virtual high schools require instructors to teach in a new kind of environment, and 22 states require that online instructors have specialized training. Georgia requires teachers to have a specific online teaching endorsement. Alabama requires elementary/secondary teachers to have training for teaching online but allows faculty members at postsecondary institutions to teach online without state certification. Twenty-five states require online teachers to meet the same requirements as classroom teachers. Oversight. Most states with virtual high schools require the administering agency to submit reports for evaluation annually or every two to three years. South Carolina's requirements are among the most specific. Each year the state board must report to the general assembly such information as the courses offered through the virtual school, number of districts and students participating, number of private and home-schooled students participating, student success rates, number of students who dropped a course and their reasons, expenditures, and number of students unable to enroll because of space limitations. TIME IN SCHOOL State policy makers are always looking to squeeze every ounce out of the school day. State policy usually establishes a minimum number of instructional days or hours (pupil/teacher contact days). However, fewer states explicitly address whether certain nonteaching activities count toward that minimum. Michael Colasanti and I dug into the details of such policies. In Massachusetts, the state board defines structured learning time as during which students are engaged in regularly scheduled instruction, learning activities, or learning assessments within the curriculum. …

Object-oriented application development in CAD: a graduate course

The programming languages typically offered by CAD systems for third-party application developers were procedural or functional. A major shift is currently occurring in that new versions of commercial CAD software will support object-oriented programming languages for application development. Developers who wish to take advantage of this new kind of environment must undergo a considerable cognitive “retooling” and adopt new software engineering strategies. We describe a graduate course that aims at introducing students to effective object-oriented development strategies, especially use case-driven development and the tools provided by the Unified Modeling Language (UML). Students gained experience with these tools by forming, together with the instructors, a single development team writing an application on top of MicroStation/J using JMDL as programming language. The paper describes the instructors' experience with this approach.

Can Environments Modify and Enhance the Development of Personality and Behavior?

The general stability of individual personality and behavior patterns may result not only from inherited factors and previous experience, but also from the tendency for most of us to live in social environments that remain relatively similar over time. Efforts to induce change require, therefore, that new kinds of environments be provided that are designed to elicit desired changes rather than reproducing familiar experiences. Residential group care has the potential to provide such an influence, but it frequently tends instead (often under pressure from the residents toward familiarity and stability) to reproduce key features of their previous environments. The effective Modifying Environment uses the potential of planned, unfamiliar experiences to produce change, rather than succumbing to the numbing effect of familiar ones that reinforce established pattems that may be adaptive in one's immediate situation but deleterious in a broader sense.Sea

Parents as Mediators of the Child's Television Environment

Children today, at least in countries like the United States, are growing up in a new kind of environment, one in which the formative influences on the child's consciousness, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour are not only their parents or siblings but also the varied and complex input from the television set. Our recent research has been directed at examining the role that parental attitudes and behaviour play in filtering the complexity of the world into manageable forms for children. To what extent do parents also treat the television set as a source of input for children which requires adult mediation? An emergent orientation towards child development pioneered by the Israeli psychologist, Reuven Feurestein, has suggested that children's capacities to develop learning skills and self-directed effective use of their naturally-developing cognitive capacities depend upon the extent to which their parents have intervened early and continuously in mediating and shaping the complex environment stimuli that surround them.