The water’s edge is the most iconic and identifiable image related to the city of Durban and in seeking an ‘authenticity’ that typifies the built fabric of the city, the image that this place creates is arguably the answer. Since its formal establishment as a settlement in 1824, this edge has been a primary element in the urban fabric. Development of the space has been fairly incremental over the last two centuries, starting with colonial infl uenced built interventions, but much of what is there currently stems from the 1930’s onwards, leading to a Modernist and later Contemporary sense of place that is moderated by regionalist infl uences, lending itself to creating a somewhat contextually relevant image. This ‘international yet local’ sense of place is however under threat from the increasingly prominent ‘global’ image of a-contextual glass high-rise towers placed along a non-descript public realm typical of global capital interests that is a hallmark of the turnkey project trends by developers from the East currently sweeping the African continent.
The Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Technical Sciences (Bull.Pol. Ac.: Tech.) is published bimonthly by the Division IV Engineering Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, since the beginning of the existence of the PAS in 1952. The journal is peer‐reviewed and is published both in printed and electronic form. It is established for the publication of original high quality papers from multidisciplinary Engineering sciences with the following topics preferred: Artificial and Computational Intelligence, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Control, Informatics and Robotics, Electronics, Telecommunication and Optoelectronics, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Material Science and Nanotechnology, Power Systems and Power Electronics.
Journal Metrics: JCR Impact Factor 2018: 1.361, 5 Year Impact Factor: 1.323, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) 2017: 0.319, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) 2017: 1.005, CiteScore 2017: 1.27, The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education 2017: 25 points.
Abbreviations/Acronym: Journal citation: Bull. Pol. Ac.: Tech., ISO: Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci.-Tech. Sci., JCR Abbrev: B POL ACAD SCI-TECH Acronym in the Editorial System: BPASTS.
Traditionally, the 42nd Winter School on Vibroacoustical Hazards Suppressions national conference is organized by Upper Silesian Division of the Polish Acoustical Society. The conference again is organized in Szczyrk. As at previous year, the conference has two co-organizers, i.e. Institute of Physics – Science-Didactic Center at the Silesian University of Technology and the Committee of Acoustics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The conference is a forum for all environmental vibroacoustic fields. Particularly it concerns traffic noise, industry noise, vibroacoustics of machines, room acoustics, building acoustics, noise protection and similar problems. Works which are presented during the School are theoretical, experimental, measuring, technical, applied and normative. The School lectures and other conference materials will be published in the “Materials of the XLII Winter School on Vibroacoustical Hazards Suppressions” (in Polish) edited by dr. Roman Bukowski. This publication will be intended for participants of the School and for many libraries in Poland. Other information about the 42nd WS on VHS you can find on our website http://ogpta.pols.pl/szzzw
The reviewed book is an introductory course on engineering acoustics designed for undergraduates with basic knowledge in mathematics. It is not written clearly enough but in my opinion is it a handbook for students of electrical engineering. Some parts of the material require the knowledge of the basics of electricity and magnetism. Particularly, there are chapters about electromechanical and electroacoustical analogies and electroacoustical transducers. It is not clear whether the course is intended for students who plan to specialize in acoustics or for those for whom this will be the only contact with engineering acoustics. In the second case basic information about physiology and psychology of hearing is missing. The book is divided into 15 chapters. The Authors write that each chapter represents material for two hours of lecture. The 15th chapter does not present a material for a lecture. It contains appendices: basic information about complex notation for sinusoidal signals, power and intensity, supplementary bibliography for self-study and exercises. In my opinion the exercises have various levels of difficulty and should be solved under the direction of a teacher. They are a very important part of the entire course.
Zygmunt G. Wąsowicz, PhD emeritus of the Chair of Acoustics and Multimedia, Wrocław University of Technology, passed away on the 8th of January 2014. His whole professional career was associated with the acoustics. Dr. Z. Wąsowicz was born in Nowy Sącz in 1931. In 1956 he graduated from the Faculty of Telecommunications at the Wrocław University of Technology and started to work there in the same year. In 1966 he obtained the PhD title, under supervision of Professor Z. Żyszkowski, for the dissertation concerning the subjective criteria of nonlinear distortions in loudspeakers. His main interests of activity were room acoustics as well as subjective assessment of sound quality. He worked out the subjective method of loudspeaker evaluation for Polish Loudspeaker Company “Tonsil” – this method was based on so-called “the live apparent sound”. He worked also on computer methods of acoustical field modeling in rooms. The works mentioned above were pioneer and modern in Poland. He participated as an acoustician, in various designers groups at for example auditory halls of Faculty of Electronics. Dr. Wąsowicz was the outstanding academical teacher whom students liked very much. He was also a member of Polish Acoustical Society and worked for the Main Board as well as the Wrocław Division of this society. In periods 1979–1983 and 1994–1996 he was the vice-dean of Faculty of Electronics. He received many awards, for example Golden Cross of Merit, Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Medal of the National Education Commission and many awards from the Governors of Wrocław University of Technology and Institute of Telecommunications and Acoustics. In 1996 he was retired and beside of this he stayed in contact with Faculty of Electronics for many years. Wrocław acoustical community mourns the loss of Dr. Z. Wąsowicz.
Professor Jerzy Sadowski – outstanding Polish scientist, a specialist in acoustics – construction, industrial, architectural and environmental – passed away on 28th July 2014. Professor Jerzy Sadowski was born on 18th December 1924 in Augustów, in northeastern Poland. In 1946 he commenced studies at the Gdańsk University of Technology – initially at the Faculty of Architecture, to switch later to the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. The life of Jerzy Sadowski as a student was as complicated as the post-war history of Poland. Due to his involvement in an activity of illegal student organization, he was expelled from the university in 1949, with a ban on any further tertiary education. The ban had been lifted after a certain time which allowed him to recommence further studies, this time at the Warsaw University of Technology the Faculty of Communications, where in 1952 he obtained the diploma and title of Master of Science and Engineer. He received a lot of help from Professor Ignacy Malecki, the nestor of Polish acoustics. This certainly contributed to kindling the young engineer’s interest in acoustics, as a field of both knowledge and very important practical applications.
In October 2011 I was nominated by the President of the Audio Engineering Society as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. My responsibility began in November. Due to large workload of new duties, with this issue I will end my work as Editor-in-Chief of Archives of Acoustics.
Beginning from the next issue of 2012, the new Editor-in-Chief, professor Andrzej Nowicki, the Director of the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research (IPPT PAN) of Polish Academy of Sciences will take over the editorial duties. His scientific achievements in acoustics will guarantee the quality of the journal's further development towards strong international position.
I was fortunate to have followed in the footsteps of such outstanding Editors-in-Chief of Archives of Acoustics as profs. Leszek Filipczy?ski and Tadeusz Powa?owski, and to have served them both as Associate Editor. I will always be grateful for the possibility to learn editorial skills from them, and to continue the valuable work of my predecessors.
Professor Aleksander Opilski has passed away on 20 April 2012.
Aleksander Opilski was born on 31 August 1931 in Zagórze in the then Śląskie Voivodship. He underwent his 1st level studies in the years 1950–1953 at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. His 2nd level academic education was completed at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań from which he graduated in 1958 as a Master of Science in Physics.