The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $24,500 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER
  IGF::OT::IGF "OTHER FUNCTIONS" ANALYSES OF PILOT TEST FINDINGS THE PRINCIPAL EFFECT OF AIRCRAFT NOISE (INCLUDING SONIC BOOMS) ON COMMUNITIES IS ANNOYANCE (CF. FICON, 1992; FIDELL, 1996). ANNOYANCE IS CONVENTIONALLY PREDICTED FROM ACOUSTIC MEASURES WHICH CHARACTERIZE EITHER SINGLE-EVENT OR CUMULATIVE SOUND EXPOSURE. A LONG-STANDING ISSUE IN ASSESSING COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO TRANSPORTATION NOISE IS THE MANNER IN WHICH THE IMMEDIATE ANNOYANCE OF EXPOSURE TO INDIVIDUAL NOISES (SAY, AIRCRAFT OVERFLIGHTS OR SONIC BOOMS) IS COMBINED INTO A LONG TERM ATTITUDE OF ANNOYANCE DUE TO CUMULATIVE EXPOSURE TO MULTIPLE EVENTS. EPA S SEL/LEQ/DNL FAMILY OF EQUIVALENT ENERGY NOISE METRICS IMPLICITLY ASSUMES THAT PEOPLE HAVE LITTLE SOUND LEVEL METERS IN THEIR HEADS : IN OTHER WORDS, THAT THEY INTEGRATE THE CUMULATIVE ANNOYANCE OF MULTIPLE NOISE INTRUSIONS OCCURRING THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF THE DAY INTO A 24-HOUR VALUE VIA AN ENERGY-AVERAGING PROCESS, JUST AS A TRUE RMS SOUND LEVEL METER WOULD. WHILE THIS IS A USEFUL WORKING ASSUMPTION, THE EMPIRICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR IT IS LESS THAN FULLY PERSUASIVE. BECAUSE TEST PARTICIPANTS IN A RECENT PILOT TEST CONDUCTED AT EDWARDS AFB WERE EXPOSED TO MULTIPLE SAME-DAY SONIC BOOMS, AND ASKED FOR BOTH THEIR IMMEDIATE ANNOYANCE JUDGMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL BOOMS AND THEIR DELAYED JUDGMENTS OF CUMULATIVE ANNOYANCE FOR AN ENTIRE DAY S EXPOSURE, THIS DATA SET CONTAINS INFORMATION WHICH COULD IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO SORTS OF ANNOYANCE JUDGMENTS.THE PRE-PLANNED ANALYSES OF THE EDWARDS AFB PILOT TEST CONCENTRATED ON METHODOLOGICAL AND DOSAGE-RESPONSE ISSUES (FIDELL, HORONJEFF AND HARRIS, 2012), HOWEVER, RATHER THAN ON MATTERS SUCH AS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SINGLE EVENT AND CUMULATIVE ANNOYANCE JUDGMENTS. THE EDWARDS AFB DATA THUS OFFER OPPORTUNITIES TO INVESTIGATE THE ANNOYANCE INTEGRATION ISSUE EMPIRICALLY. THE DATA SET IS UNIQUE FOR A COMBINATION OF REASONS: ANNOYANCE JUDGMENTS WERE SOLICITED IN RESIDENTIAL SETTINGS; INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED VIA SMARTPHONES; AND THE OPINIONS OF TEST PARTICIPANTS ABOUT SONIC BOOMS WERE SOLICITED BOTH IN CLOSE TEMPORAL PROXIMITY TO THE OCCURRENCE OF SONIC BOOMS, AND AT THE END OF THE DAY. THE PRIMARY PILOT TEST DATA WERE COLLECTED DURING A TWO WEEK PERIOD OF INTENTIONAL EXPOSURE TO SONIC BOOMS, DURING WHICH 49 TEST PARTICIPANTS JUDGED THE ANNOYANCE OF APPROXIMATELY 100 SONIC BOOMS. ALTHOUGH ANNOYANCE JUDGMENTS HAD ALSO BEEN SOLICITED FROM MANY OF THE SAME TEST PARTICIPANTS FOR SEVERAL PRIOR MONTHS DURING WHICH THEY WERE ADVENTITIOUSLY EXPOSED TO SONIC BOOMS, CONSISTENT ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENTS OF SONIC BOOM AMPLITUDES WERE MADE ONLY DURING THE INTENTIONAL EXPOSURE PERIOD.

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