On behalf of Upper Silesian Division of the Polish Acoustical Society (main organizer) and Committee of Acoustics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (co-organizer) we are pleased to announce that it is nearing the end of preparations for the conduct traditionally organized Conferences, which will take place as previously in Szczyrk. At the moment, more than 50 people have confirmed participation in Conferences. They will present more than 40 lectures and reports. 45th Winter School on Wave and Quantum Acoustics constitutes a platform for sharing the results and achievements obtained in different branches of physical acoustics (e.g. molecular acoustics, quantum acoustics, acousto-optics, magnetoacoustics, photoacoustics, acoustics of solid state etc.). Moreover, researches in some selected topics related to those mentioned above (e.g. optoelectronics, relaxation processes) will also be presented during the school. Currently, during the Conference Workshop on Acoustoelectronics and Workshop on Molecular Acoustics, Relaxation and Calorimetric Methods will be held – however, there is a possibility of organizing workshops on other subjects in the future. We would like to invite scientific centers and groups to cooperate in organizing workshops on the subjects of their interests. XLIVth Winter School on Environmental Acoustics and Vibroacoustics is the forum for all environmental and vibroacoustics fields. Particularly it concerns traffic noise, vibroacoustics of machines, room acoustics, building acoustics, noise protection and similar problems.

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.

The 16th International Symposium on Sound Engineering and Tonmeistering (ISSET) organized by the Institute of Radioelectronics and Multimedia Technology (Warsaw University of Technology), Department of Sound Engineering (Fryderyk Chopin University of Music) and the Polish Radio, under auspicious of the Polish Section of the Audio Engineering Society was held in Warsaw on October 8-10 in 2015. The main topics of the Symposium covered mostly all domains of audio engineering, i.e. musical acoustics, noise control, signal processing, room acoustics, radio and television, multimedia, sound engineering and tonmeistering, perception and quality assessment, and many others. The extra attention has been paid for the problems of loudness of audio programs in radio and TV broadcasting. Over 60 people from different branches of audio technology participated in this Symposium and shared their knowledge and experiences during the paper sessions, technical tours, workshops and special presentations. The selection of abstracts of the papers presented at the ISSET’2015 are inserted below.

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.

It is with great sadness that we inform our readers about the recent death of Professor Stefan Ernst. Stefan Ernst was born in Piaśniki, Upper Silesia, on November 03, 1934, to parents of Polish-German descent. His primary education started during the war at a German-speaking school in Wirek and continued in Olesno, where he also got his secondary education. As chemistry studies were not yet available at the University ofWrocław in 1953, he started studying biology and switched to chemistry a year later. He received his master’s degree in chemistry in 1959, as one of the first graduates in that major. Then, he started his work on application of thermodynamics and molecular acoustics in investigation of liquid phases under the guidance of the Prof. Bogusława Jeżowska-Trzebiatowska. On 28 November 1967, he defended his PhD thesis entitled “Association-Dissociation Equilibria and the Structure of Uranyl Compounds in Organic Solvents” at the University of Wrocław. Professor Stefan Ernst was a linguist, a polyglot, a renowned thermodynamisist and a researcher of molecular acoustics. With great regret and shock we have learned of his sudden and unexpected death on August 03, 2014, in a hospital in Kraków.

When we look at the history of AGH – University of Science and Technology, recognized as one of the best universities in the country, we find that for that success many people worked for several dozen years. However, the subjects, the methodology and directions of their work were shaped by units – outstanding personalities of science. Just to mention, among others Professors Stanisław Zuber, Władysław Takliński, Witold Budryk, Maksymilian Tytus Huber and Władysław Bogusz. These people have shaped our institution, marked its new path of development and permanent place in the history of Polish and world science. To belong to such a group is a great ennoblement, for which one works out for his entire life. Undoubtedly, such personality was also Professor Zbigniew Witold Engel, to whom we said goodbye on November, 6th, 2013, in the St. Clement’s church in Wieliczka. Professor was born on April 1, 1933, in Zawady near Zhovkva in the province of Lviv. After graduating from Jan Matejko Middle and High School in Wieliczka in 1950 earned a matriculation certificate. Then he began his studies at the Department of Communications of Polytechnic Departments of Academy of Mining and Metallurgy and involved with our university for the next 63 years. October 1, 1952 the Department of Mechanics of the University of Mining and Metallurgy was created, and soon after began professor’s adventure that was the work of science, education and organization. The history and fate of our university are inextricably linked with the person of professor who practically since the very beginning of the Faculty supported it in all areas of its activities, and has always actively participated in academic life.

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.

Mikołaj Łabowski, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Acoustics, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, passed away on the 8th of October, 2013. Professor Mikołaj Łabowski was born on the 17th of December, 1935, in Florynka in the southern part of Poland. He graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry of the Adam Mickiewicz University receiving his Master of Science degree in physics in 1962. Eight years later he obtained his PhD title from the same university. In 1981, on the basis of the book “Ultra- and hypersonic properties of selected liquids and critical mixtures” he obtained the degree of habilitated doctor. The President of Poland awarded him the titles of Associate Professor in Physics in the year 1991 and Full Professor in 1999. From 1985 to 1987,Mikołaj Łabowski held the post of Vice-Dean for Students’ Affairs at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the AdamMickiewicz University. In the years 1996–1999, he was the Director of the University’s Institute of Acoustics. He held many posts in the Polish Acoustical Society, of which he was a HonoraryMember. He always served with advice and assistance in scientific matters to the Committee of Acoustics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Professor Łabowski was an outstanding scientist, one of the founders of ultrasonic physics in Poland. After returning from scholarship in the Lomonsov University in Moscow, he became an expert in the field of ultrasonic studies of liquids and liquid mixtures. His groundbreaking works on ultrasonic properties of critical binary mixtures opened up new perspectives in the research of dynamic phenomena in the vicinity of critical temperatures. Professor Łabowski’s outstanding scientific achievements were recognized by rewarding him the Minister of Education Prize in the years 1981 and 1987. Throughout his whole professional career associated with the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Professor Łabowski has published over 100 papers, mostly in renowned international scientific journals, and carried out an intensive teaching activity. Through his profound knowledge and enthusiasm, Professor Mikołaj Łabowski continuously inspired colleagues and collaborators and decisively shaped the development of ultrasonic physics in Poznań. With the death of Professor Mikołaj Łabowski, Polish acoustics has lost a great researcher, teacher, and scholar.

Research in termoacoustics began with the observation of the heat transfer between gas and solids. Using this interaction the intense sound wave could be applied to create engines and heat pumps. The most important part of thermoacoustic devices is a regenerator, where press of conversion of sound energy into thermal or vice versa takes place. In a heat pump the acoustic wave produces the temperature difference at the two ends of the regenerator. The aim of the paper is to find the influence of the material used for the construction of a regenerator on the properties of a thermoacoustic heat pump. Modern technologies allow us to create new materials with physical properties necessary to increase the temperature gradient on the heat exchangers. The aim of this paper is to create a regenerator which strongly improves the efficiency of the heat pump.Polish acoustical community mourns the loss of Professor Marian Urbańczyk who passed away on July 10, 2013. Professor Marian Urbańczyk was born on February 2nd, 1948, in Katowice (Poland). There he attended the Silesian Technical College (Śląskie Techniczne Zakłady Naukowe), where he was a student of the electrical engineering and electronics class and in 1967 completed his secondary education with school-leaving examination and a honorary mention. In 1973, he graduated successfully (again with distinction) from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Silesian University of Technology (Politechnika Śląska) in Gliwice. The same year he has joined the SUT’s Institute of Physics as a university teacher at the newly created Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. The late Professor Urbańczyk remained connected with the Institute until 2009, from 2007 to 2009 performing the function of its Deputy Director for Students’ Affairs. The scope of the Professor’s scientific interest comprised electronics of solid state, metrology, and technical physics, with special attention paid by him to acoustics, including acoustoelectronic systems and their applications in technology and metrology. In 1981, Marian Urbańczyk delivered his doctor’s dissertation concerning technical acoustics at the Institute of Fundamental Problems of Technology Polish Academy of Sciences (IPPT PAN) in Warsaw. In the year 1999, he was granted the post-doctoral degree (habilitation) by the Council of the Faculty of Electronics at the Wrocław University of Technology. In 2012, Marian Urbańczyk was made full professor by the President of Poland. The Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice remained the scene of Professor Urbańczyk’s scientific activity to the very end of his life. Since September 1, 2009, Professor had been working at the Department of Optoelectronics at the SUT’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering, acting as its Deputy Director. Professor Marian Urbańczyk was a promoter of several doctor’s dissertations and numerous master theses. In the framework of his didactic work, he has organized many students’ laboratories and workshops. He was also the author of a wide variety of teaching curriculums (syllabuses). The late Professor Urbańczyk was highly valued both by his students and coworkers. Professor Marian Urbańczyk was an unquestionable authority in the field of technical acoustics, metrology, and electronics, and an internationally acknowledged author (and co-author) of more than 200 scientific publications, nearly 50 of them having been included in the ISI list. His papers were published in highly-ranked journals and frequently cited by other authors. He was also the co-author of numerous patents and patent applications. The Professor was a member of Scientific Committees of many conferences, both domestic and international. Professor Marian Urbańczyk was a member of many international and Polish scientific societies, including the European Acoustical Association (EAA), the International Optical Engineering Society (SPIE), the Polish Acoustical Society (PTA), the Photonic Society of Poland, the Polish Physical Association (PTF), and the Polish Association of Sensor Technology (PTTS). Since 1975, Professor Urbańczyk was a member of the Polish Acoustical Society (PTA), elected later the Member of the Main Board of this organization and the Chairman (Local President) of the Board of Upper Silesia Branch of the PTA. The Professor acted also as a co-organizer of annual international conferences, including the Winter School on Wave and Quantum Acoustics and the Workshop on Acoustoelectronics. For his scientific achievements, Professor Urbańczyk has been awarded state orders, medals, and scientific rewards. Professor Urbańczyk’s death is an irreparable loss to the Silesian University of Technology, the Polish Acoustical Society, and the whole Polish scientific community. Professor Marian Urbańczyk was an extraordinary person, always very kind-hearted and understanding for others. For those who knew him personally, he was a Friend and a Master. And as the Friend and the Master we will retain him in our fond memory.

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.

Wytwarzane dzięki symulacjom modele zastępujące świat są wolne od uwarunkowań biologicznych, emocjonalnych, historycznych, logicznych, życiowych.

Ludzie coraz mniej wierzą nauce, a coraz bardziej wiedzy – mówiąc eufemistycznie – popularnej. Jakie są tego efekty?