No abstract

In many faculties of engineering around the world, the current practice is to assess candidates by the closed-book mode of examination. However, in solving real-life problems, engineering practitioners may apply their knowledge either directly through recall of pertinent knowledge and experiences or, as is normal in most cases, by consultative reference. In the latter case, they elect to make use of whatever resources that may be available to them. The question we pose then is, ‘Why do some engineering educators still insist on closed-book examinations?’ This paper unveils the misconceptions while arguing in support of the open-book mode of examination. Towards that end, actual results from mechanical engineering degree courses in two universities in two countries are presented.

No abstract

This paper addresses the problem of interactive auralization of enclosures based on a finite superposition of plane waves. For this, room acoustic simulations are performed using the Finite Element (FE) method. From the FE solution, a virtual microphone array is created and an inverse method is implemented to estimate the complex amplitudes of the plane waves. The effects of Tikhonov regularization are also considered in the formulation of the inverse problem, which leads to a more efficient solution in terms of the energy used to reconstruct the acoustic field. Based on this sound field representation, translation and rotation operators are derived enabling the listener to move within the enclosure and listen to the changes in the acoustic field. An implementation of an auralization system based on the proposed methodology is presented. The results suggest that the plane wave expansion is a suitable approach to synthesize sound fields. Its advantage lies in the possibility that it offers to implement several sound reproduction techniques for auralization applications. Furthermore, features such as translation and rotation of the acoustic field make it convenient for interactive acoustic renderings.

No abstract