How urban noise can influence the learning-teaching process. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation

The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of urban noise and noise generated inside the buildings of elementary schools and its influence on the performance of their students. The sample is consists of the school EB1/JI in Prozela and school EB1/JI in Currais. The first one is located near the International Airport Francisco Sá Carneiro and the other school is surrounded by an electrical substation, a mechanic workshop, and by a motorway A41, both in the municipality of Maia

Impacto do ruído no processo de ensino-aprendizagem na Escola do 1º Ciclo de Ensino Básico (1ºCEB) de Prozela - Maia

Ruído de fundo excessivo, ou ainda emissões de ruído provenientes da envolvente escolar, podem traduzir-se numa barreira para a comunicação da comunidade educativa. Pretende- se com este estudo avaliar o impacto do ruído proveniente do exterior, assim como o gerado no interior dos edifícios escolares do 1º CEB e a sua influência no desempenho dos respectivos alunos. A amostra é constituída pela escola EB1/JI de Prozela, situada no concelho da Maia. As ferramentas adoptadas para desenvolver estes estudos incluem modelos de previsão de ruído numa plataforma de SIG e dois sonómetros classe 1 para as medições do nível de ruído in-situ. Posteriormente procedeu-se a uma avaliação subjectiva através da aplicação de questionários à população de alunos e professores. Esta combinação foi a base para a validação das relações estabelecidas entre os níveis de ruído existente e o impacto deste na aprendizagem

The noise impact in the learning-teaching process in an elementary school

Excessive background noise, or even noise emissions coming from the surroundings of the school environment, may become a barrier concerning communication within the school community. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of noise from outside, as well as the noise generated within the school building of a primary school and its influence on the performance of their students. The sample is constituted by the school EB1/JI in Prozela, an elementary school, located close the International Airport Francisco Sá Carneiro, in the municipality of Maia

Impacto do ruído na saúde e qualidade de vida das pessoas: O caso da cidade de Guimarães

O ruído é referido como um som indesejado, nomeadamente sons que causam distúrbios nas atividades diárias, como dormir, comunicar ou trabalhar. O ruído ambiental define-se como o ruído que é atribuído ao tráfego, à indústria, à vizinhança ou atividades recreativas que é sentido pelas comunidades. Nas últimas décadas, o ruído ambiental tem vindo a aumentar de forma regular e é atualmente uma importante preocupação para a sociedade. Como resposta a União Europeia adotou em 2002 uma Diretiva para avaliar e gerir o ruído ambiental nas comunidades, um problema ambiental que se tornou numa questão de saúde públic

Industrial contribution to the air quality of one mid-sized portuguese city

Urban air pollution became one of the main factors of degradation of the quality of life in cities. This problem tends to worsen due to the unbalanced development of urban spaces and the incompatibilities of uses. In urban environment the typical anthropogenic sources are mainly the road traffic and, when existing, the industrial activity. The present work was performed to attain the following objectives: to quantify the atmospheric emissions from the major industrial sources located in the city and its vicinity and to evaluate the influence of these industrial sources to the air quality of the city. A range of numerical models were used to produce the concentration maps: the ADMS-Urban model for the pollutants dispersion; the Hills model to calculate air flow and turbulence over complex terrain and the European Pollutant Emission Register to estimate the emission factors.(undefined

CityAIR : a new air quality index for cities

Due to a generalised increase of mobility and road traffic in urban areas, the total emissions from road traffic have risen significantly, assuming the main responsibility for the disregard of air quality standards. Pollutant concentrations are evaluated through monitoring, using permanent measurement stations or mobile units, and prediction models based on emissions and meteorological conditions. In order to find an air quality index, the pollutant concentrations are combined through a classification scale anchored on the legal limits and, on the other side, on the impacts over human heath. Typically these classification models consider only the worse pollutant, i.e. the one which concentration ishigher given a certain scale. The objective of this paper is to present a new air quality index, cityAIR, developed for urban contexts. The mathematical formulation of cityAIR stands on two logics: whenever at least one of the pollutants considered overcomes the legal limitsfor the concentration, this will be the only relevant one for the index calculation, and the value will be the minimum of the scale (zero or red); when there is no limit violation,then all the pollutants are considered for the overall air quality, which is calculated through a multi-criteria combination of the concentrations, where trade-off is allowed. A case study is presented, where a cityAIR valuessurface was calculated for Viana do Castelo, a mid-sized Portuguese city, considering concentrations of CO, NO2, O3, C6H6 and PM10

Atmospheric emissions of one pulp and paper mill. Contribution to the air quality of Viana do Castelo

One of the most sensitive environmental impact of the pulp and paper mills is associated with the atmospheric pollution namely with sulphur compounds, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. The study undertaken aimed to evaluate the influence of one pulp and paper mill to the air quality of a Portuguese city located in the vicinity. A range of numerical models were used to produce the concentration maps: the ADMS- Urban model for the pollutants dispersion; the Hills model to calculate air flow and turbulence over complex terrain, including the effects of variable surface roughness and EPER data (The European Pollutant Emission Register) to estimate the emissions factors

The Influence of urban form on environmental quality within a medium-sized city

This paper presents the relations established between urban morphology and variations in observed air quality within a city centre. A dataset from four monitoring stations in a medium-sized city was collected and clustered by the amount of traffic-generated air pollutants. For each cluster, the relationship between the configuration of the open spaces and average PM10 concentration was established. Results show the impact of urban geometry on the outdoor pollutant concentration, concluding that increasing Sky View Factor and Ratio of Open Spaces lead to a decrease in the PM10 concentration.The authors gratefully acknowledge FCT/C-TAC for the financial support granted through a Master’s scholarship

Evaluating critical noise disturbance zones in a mid-sized city

Publicado em "Sustainable Planning and Development", ISBN 1-85312-985-2Urban growth is continuously applying pressure over resources, infrastructures and facilities, affecting negatively the standard of living in cities. In this context, evaluating and monitoring the urban environmental quality has become a main issue particularly important when considered as a decision -support tool that contributes to more livable and sustainable cities. Viana do Castelo is a mid-sized city located on the northwest Portuguese seaside, which undertook the challenge of developing an environmental program leading to the integration in a Healthy Cities European Network. Within this program, the identification of urban noise levels and people exposure was considered a priority. The scientific toolbox adopted to develop the studies includes noise simulation models and a GIS platform. Based on traffic data and site physical characteristics, acoustical maps were created and overlaid together with the land-use-based acoustic zoning and population distribution layers. This combination was the basis for the identification of critical zones, both in terms of noise levels and people exposure to this kind of pollution. This paper aims to present the approach, including the theoretical framework, and to discuss the results of a summer scenario of noise exposure in the city center

Urban form as environmental noise indicators

The urban form affects all systems and all species in an urban context and influences their behavior from the emission of noise, through its course until reaching the receiver, affecting the global climate. This paper seeks to address the problems of the urban environment as an area of interaction between urban forms and urban noise. This interaction is intended to be monitored by urban indicators, comparing the effects of noise propagation in an urban form model. The model of noise prediction (NMPB96), allows the development of studies about noise in facades (Ld, level of noise during the day), resulting in colors associated to noise categories. This study will allow the creation of different scenarios and to foresee, still in the draft phase, the facades exposed to a higher noise level. The effects of noise in facades can be, then, minimized in advance, by adjusting the layout of their typology. In order to validate the model and its results, we compared the values obtained at selected locations by modeling them. The validation of the theoretical curves was done in two phases. The first validation involved the measurement and the modeling of the selected real forms by comparing their receptor points. The second validation was done by calculating the average noise level on the facade of the modeled real forms, and then validated by comparing the calculation results of the indicators of form and behavior of the theoretical forms in order to correspond to its homonymous removed and measured in its real context. The study allowed the creation of different scenarios and anticipates, from its conception stage, the facades which have higher exposure to noise. Therefore, it is possible to minimize, in advance, the effects of noise on the facades, using the adjustment of the layout and configuration of the building form. The results showed that the physical characteristics of urban form influence sound propagation in a certain area. The urban parameters are important for determining sound of urban environment and, therefore, cannot be disregarded.(undefined