Predicting the absorption of perforated panels backed by resistive textiles

This paper studies the diffuse field sound absorption coefficient of a system consisting of a rigid perforated panel with a thin porous woven/matted material glued to its back, which is placed in front of an air cavity with a rigid backing. To cut the cost of trial and error diffuse field sound absorption coefficient measurements, a prediction method was developed. Measurements were made in a two-microphone impedance tube of the complex specific acoustic impedances of the unperforated rigid panel materials and of the thin porous materials in front of a rigidly terminated air cavity. These values were used in the transfer matrix method to predict the complex specific acoustic impedances of the perforated panels systems as a function of the angle of incidence of the sound. These calculations assumed the systems to have infinite or finite lateral extent. The measured diffuse field sound absorption coefficient values usually lay between the infinite and finite predictions. The most important variables are the perforation factor of the panel, the acoustic resistance of the thin porous material and the cavity depth

The prediction of the diffuse field sound absorption of perforated panel systems

This paper studies the diffuse field sound absorption coefficient of a system consisting of a rigid perforated panel with a thin porous woven/matted material glued to its back, which is placed in front of an air cavity with a rigid backing. To cut the cost of trial and error diffuse field sound absorption coefficient measurements, a prediction method was developed. Measurements were made in a two-microphone impedance tube of the complex specific acoustic impedances of the un-perforated rigid panel materials, and of the thin porous materials in front of a rigidly terminated air cavity. These values were used in the transfer matrix method to predict the complex specific acoustic impedances of the perorated panels systems as a function of the angle of incidence of the sound. These calculations assumed the systems to have infinite or finite lateral extent. The measured diffuse field absorption values usually lay between the infinite and finite predictions. The most important variables are the perforation factor of the panel, the acoustic resistance of the thin porous material and the cavity depth

The prediction of the complex characteristic acoustic impedance of porous materials

Modeling the complex characteristic acoustic impedance and complex wavenumber of porous materials allows the prediction of the complex specific acoustic impedance of a system consisting of porous absorbers and air cavities in front of a rigid surface. By using the transfer matrix method, the complex characteristic acoustic impedance and complex wavenumber of a porous material can be predicted by using the measured complex specific acoustic impedance of two different systems of the porous material and an air cavity, performed in a two-microphone impedance tube. Depending on the method, the material can be measured with either a rigidly terminated back plate at the back of the material, or a rigidly terminated air cavity at the back. This paper looks at why predictions using the single and double thickness method break down for thinner, less dense materials

The acoustic radiation impedance of a rectangular panel

This paper extends the definition of the one sided radiation impedance of a panel mounted in an infinite rigid baffle which was previously used by the authors so that it can be applied to all transverse velocity wave types on the panel rather than just to the possibly forced travelling plane transverse velocity waves considered previously by the authors. For the case of travelling plane waves on a rectangular panel with anechoic edge conditions, and for the case of standing waves on a rectangular panel with simply supported edge conditions, the equations resulting from one of the standard reductions from quadruple to double integrals are given. These double integral equations can be reduced to single integral equations, but the versions of these equations given in the literature did not always converge when used with adaptive integral routines and were sometimes slower than the double integral versions. This is because the terms in the integrands in the existing equations have singularities. Although these singularities cancel, they caused problems for the adaptive integral routines. This paper rewrites these equations in a form which removes the singularities and enables the integrals in these equations to be evaluated with adaptive integral routines. Approximate equations for the azimuthally averaged one sided radiation impedance of a rectangular panel mounted in an infinite baffle are given for all the cases considered in this paper and the values produced by these equations are compared with numerical calculations

The average specific forced radiation wave impedance of a finite rectangular panel

The average specific forced radiation wave impedance of a finite rectangular panel is of importance for the prediction of both sound insulation and sound absorption. In 1982, Thomasson published numerical calculations of the average specific forced radiation wave impedance of a square of side length 2e for wave number k in half octave steps of ke from 0.25 to 64. Thomasson's calculations were for the case when the forced bending wave number kb was less than or equal to k. Thomasson also published approximate formulas for values of ke above and below the published results. This paper combines Thomasson's high and low frequency formulas and compares this combined formula with Thomasson's numerical calculations. The real part of the approximate formula is between 0.7 dB higher and -1 dB lower than the numerical calculations. The imaginary part of the approximate formula is between 2.3 dB higher and -2.6 dB lower than the numerical calculations. This paper also gives approximate formulas for the case when kb is greater than or equal to k. The differences are between 0.8 and -1.2 dB for the imaginary part and between 6.2 and -2.4 dB for the real part

A 50-Year-Old Man with Deteriorating Cognitive Function and Impaired Movement

Andrew Larner discusses the diagnosis and management of a man referred to the Cognitive Function Clinic with a 12- to 18-month history of deteriorating memory

Valosin-containing protein regulates the proteasome-mediated degradation of DNA-PKcs in glioma cells.

DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) has an important role in the repair of DNA damage and regulates the radiation sensitivity of glioblastoma cells. The VCP (valosine-containing protein), a chaperone protein that regulates ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation, is phosphorylated by DNA-PK and recruited to DNA double-strand break sites to regulate DNA damage repair. However, it is not clear whether VCP is involved in DNA-PKcs (DNA-PK catalytic subunit) degradation or whether it regulates the radiosensitivity of glioblastoma. Our data demonstrated that DNA-PKcs was ubiquitinated and bound to VCP. VCP knockdown resulted in the accumulation of the DNA-PKcs protein in glioblastoma cells, and the proteasome inhibitor MG132 synergised this increase. As expected, this increase promoted the efficiency of DNA repair in several glioblastoma cell lines; in turn, this enhanced activity decreased the radiation sensitivity and prolonged the survival fraction of glioblastoma cells in vitro. Moreover, the VCP knockdown in glioblastoma cells reduced the survival time of the xenografted mice with radiation treatment relative to the control xenografted glioblastoma mice. In addition, the VCP protein was also downregulated in ~25% of GBM tissues from patients (WHO, grade IV astrocytoma), and the VCP protein level was correlated with patient survival (R(2)=0.5222, P<0.05). These findings demonstrated that VCP regulates DNA-PKcs degradation and increases the sensitivity of GBM cells to radiation

An Acute Evolving Flaccid Quadriparesis in an Elderly Woman

Andrew Larner and colleagues discuss the differential diagnosis, investigation, and management of a 72-year-old woman presenting with progressive lower limb weakness who develops an acute evolving flaccid quadriparesis

Approximate formulae for the average one sided specific radiation wave impedance of a finite rectangular panel

The authors have previously published approximate formulae for the average one sided specific radiation wave impedance of a finite rectangular panel mounted in a rigid infinite baffle. The panel's transverse vibration was due to a (possibly forced) two dimensional bending plane wave propagating in the panel without reflection at the edges of the panel. The average was over all the surface area of the panel and over all possible azimuthal angles of propagation direction. The radiation from waves propagating in different directions was assumed to be uncorrelated. These approximate formulae were derived from the 1982 research of Thomasson whose approximate formulae only covered the high and low frequency regions and not the mid frequency region. This paper presents more accurate versions of some of the approximate formulae. When the bending wave number is larger than the wave number of sound, the real part of the impedance is smaller than that for the case studied by Maidanik and Leppington. This is because correlated reflections are not included the case analyzed in this paper. When the bending wave number is smaller than or equals the wave number of sound, the real part of the impedance is the same for both cases

Evaluation of absorbent materials for use as ad hoc dry decontaminants during mass casualty incidents as part of the UK's Initial Operational Response (IOR)

The UK's Initial Operational Response (IOR) is a revised process for the medical management of mass casualties potentially contaminated with hazardous materials. A critical element of the IOR is the introduction of immediate, on-scene disrobing and decontamination of casualties to limit the adverse health effects of exposure. Ad hoc cleansing of the skin with dry absorbent materials has previously been identified as a potential means of facilitating emergency decontamination. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the in vitro oil and water absorbency of a range of materials commonly found in the domestic and clinical environments and to determine the effectiveness of a small, but representative selection of such materials in skin decontamination, using an established ex vivo model. Five contaminants were used in the study: methyl salicylate, parathion, diethyl malonate, phorate and potassium cyanide. In vitro measurements of water and oil absorbency did not correlate with ex vivo measurements of skin decontamination. When measured ex vivo, dry decontamination was consistently more effective than a standard wet decontamination method (“rinse-wipe-rinse”) for removing liquid contaminants. However, dry decontamination was ineffective against particulate contamination. Collectively, these data confirm that absorbent materials such as wound dressings and tissue paper provide an effective, generic capability for emergency removal of liquid contaminants from the skin surface, but that wet decontamination should be used for non-liquid contaminants