Vol. 21 No. 37 (2006): Acústica e Vibrações 37

Editorial

On February 16, 2006, the Board of Directors elected for the 2006-2010 quadrennium took office in São Paulo at the Headquarters of the Institute of Weights and Measures. On that occasion, when more than 40 associates attended the Inaugural General Assembly, former president Samir N. Y. Gerges presented a summary of the activities developed by Sobrac in the period 2002-2006, which includes the realization of Internoise 2005, the largest event organized by our Society since its creation in 1994, and which has definitely projected it on the international scene.

Subsequently, the new Board of Directors resubmitted the proposals with which we applied for the next quadrennium, proposals that include the presentation of a certification program for professionals to measure noise, the transparency of Sobrac's accounts, the holding of traditional events society and also the revitalization of the Acústica & Vibrações magazine.

Colleague Paulo Massarani will coordinate the work of a Temporary Editorial Board-CET, whose activities will focus mainly on defining a set of criteria for the formation and functioning of the Editorial Board of the Brazilian Society of Acoustics, a fundamental requirement for the request for indexing of the Sobrac magazine with the relevant organizations. Despite CET's well-defined mission, the December issue of Revista Acústica & Vibrações should already have articles that have been minimally evaluated according to the criteria that will be presented for approval at the General Assembly of Sobrac to be held next November in São Paulo. The July 2006 issue was edited without these changes or editorial review by the CET.

More than 40 experts from universities, research institutes, private companies and consultants were invited to form the Temporary Editorial Board. The names of the 16 who agreed to collaborate are listed below:
Professor Doris Ruth Lewis, PUC-SP; Prof. Fernando Pinto, COPPE/UFRJ; Professor Beatriz Mendes, PUC-SP; Prof. Paulo Zannin, UFPR; Prof. Sylvio Bistafa, USP; Prof. Samir Gerges, UFSC; Professor Stelamaris Rolla, Unicamp; Professor Elvira Viveiros, UFSC; Marcio Avelar, Unicamp; Professor Dinara Paixão, UFSM; Prof. Marco Vecci, UFMG; Prof. Roberto Tenenbaum, IPRJ/UERJ; Prof. Eduardo Buazer, UFMG; Marcelo Magalhães, FORD Brazil; Prof. Ricardo Musafir, COPPE/UFRJ; and Sílvio Pinheiro da Silva Jr., GROM.

A new website for Sobrac should be up and running by mid-July. This work is being organized by the 1st Secretary of Sobrac Gilberto Fuchs. Until the closing date of this editorial, Sobrac had a staff of 60 effective members, 25 institutional members and 11 students up to date. Our goal is to double the number of effective members in 2006 and increase the number of students significantly, seeking the adhesion of students from courses such as speech therapy, medicine and architecture.

With these measures, and others related to the organization and promotion of technical/scientific events, such as Sobrac meetings and even international congresses of the magnitude of Internoise or ICSV, we hope to consolidate the Sociedade Brasileira de Acústica as an organization that brings together in a very representative way professionals and future professionals in the fields of acoustics and vibration sciences.

Marco Antonio Nabuco de Araujo, President of Sobrac

Summary content:

• Hybrid Method for Numerical Simulation of Room Acoustics: Theory, Computational Implementation and Experimental Validation;
• Introduction to Schroeder's diffusers and comparative analysis with serial organization in Schoenberg's 12-note composition technique;
• Sound quality: basic concepts illustrated with an example from the automotive area;
• A low cost system for the room acoustics student; and
• Evaluation of methods for measuring the transfer function of over-the-ear headphones.