Chiara Bartalucci

LIFE+2010 QUADMAP project: A new methodology to select, analyze and manage Quiet Urban Areas defined by the European Directive 2002/49/EC

Abstract Concerning quiet areas, the definition provided by the Environmental Noise Directive (END) is intended to preserve the acoustic environment in those areas where it is considered good, according to general indicators and limits. However, the END is not clear enough to allow appropriate assessment and management in urban environments. The aim of QUADMAP project was to deliver a method and guidelines for the identification, delineation, characterization, improvement and management of Quiet Urban Areas (QUAs) as defined by the END. The Project also wanted to help clarify the definition of a QUA, its meaning and its added value for cities in terms of health, safety and lowering stress levels. In this article, after an introduction of the current European scenario on QUAs, the main aspects of the methodology introduced for the selection, analysis and management of QUAs are described. Eventually, the major results achieved by the Project, in terms of the guideline on QUAs, the implemented interventions and the achieved benefits, are reported and discussed.

A Survey of Methods for Symmetry Detection on 3D High Point Density Models in Biomedicine

Versatile, cheap and non-invasive 3D acquisition techniques have received attention and interest in the field of biomedicine in recent years as the accuracy of developed devices permits the acquisition of human body shapes in detail. Interest in these technologies derives from the fact that they have the potential to overcome some limitations of invasive techniques (CT, X-rays, etc.) and those based on 2D photographs for the acquisition of 3D geometry. However, the data acquired from the 3D scanner cannot be directly used but need to be processed as they consist of 3D coordinates of the acquired points. Therefore, many researchers have proposed different algorithms which recognise the shape of human body and/or its features when starting from a 3D point cloud. Among all possible human body features to be evaluated, symmetry results the most relevant one. Accordingly, this survey systematically investigates the methods proposed in the literature to recognise 2D symmetry by the symmetry line and bilateral symmetry by the symmetry plane. The paper also analyses qualitative comparisons among the proposed methods to provide a guide for both practitioners and researchers.

LIFE MONZA: project description and actions’ updating

Abstract The introduction of Low Emission Zones, urban areas subject to road traffic restrictions in order to ensure compliance with the air pollutants limit values set by the European Directive on ambient air quality (2008/50/EC), is a common and well-established action in the administrative government of cities. The impacts on air quality improvement are widely analysed, whereas the effects and benefits concerning the noise have not been addressed in a comprehensive manner. As a consequence, the definition, the criteria for the analysis and the management methods of a Noise Low Emission Zone are not clearly expressed and shared yet. The LIFE MONZA project (Methodologies fOr Noise low emission Zones introduction And management - LIFE15 ENV/IT/000586) addresses these issues. The first objective of the project, co-funded by the European Commission, is to introduce an easy-replicable method for the identification and the management of the Noise Low Emission Zone, an urban area subject to traffic restrictions, whose impacts and benefits regarding noise issues will be analyzed and tested in the pilot area of the city of Monza, located in Northern Italy. Background conditions, structure, objectives of the project and actions’ progress will be discussed in this article.

Development of a new smart noise monitoring system for a long-term noise control in the cities

The paper describes a new smart noise monitoring system designed and implemented into the project named LIFE15 ENV/IT/000586 “Methodologies fOr Noise low emission Zones introduction And management” (MONZA). The prototype system has been designed starting from the state of the art and the monitoring needs of the MONZA project. The designed system can be considered as a prototype according to the necessary customization in the designing of connections among the hardware components and in the definition of protocols to manage and post process of data collected. The designed prototype needs to maintain the original specs over a long time. In fact, the new monitoring system will be used for a long time (at least five years) during and after the MONZA project duration. In this paper, a description related to the designed network are reported as well as the optimized protocol used to check the system performance variation over time.