Airborne Acoustic Transmission and Terrain Topography at SAINTGITS Amphitheatre:An Analysis of Outdoor Auditory Perception and Comparison of Contour Plots

The arrangement of natural and physical features on the earth’s surface are a few among the countless items that govern the airborne acoustic transmission at boundary layers.In particular,if the acoustic waves are attributes of live concerts at open-air theatres,without losing the sheen and quality,the audience should certainly receive the unbroken depth of the performance.Hence,at all times,it is advisable to analyse the auditory receptiveness,particularly in all intended recreational spaces.The current pandemic circumstances and the mandated COVID-19 prevention protocols encourage gatherings in naturally ventilated outdoor regions than confined indoors.This work predicts and quantifies the acoustic experience at the naturally carved amphitheatre at SAINTGITS,an autonomous institution at the down South-West of the Indian Subcontinent.The entire recreational space at SAINTGITS AMPHI was separately modelled as a Base case and Advanced case,and were analysed using the acoustic modelling module of EASE Focus,a renowned simulation freeware,which is in strict adherence with the International standards.The variation in loudness received at the nearest and farthest ends of the amphitheatre was between 67 to 80 dB.Though the Zero frequency SPL(Z-weighting)exhibited the loudness in the range of 81 to 85 dB and could maintain a safer auditory level for any human ear,it was confined to a hemispherical region near the sound source.A vertical beam angle of−4.0°was found to be effective throughout.The procedures and analyses will certainly help the future organizers and stakeholders to effectively plan the resources to reap rich acoustic experience at terrain-centric locales.The surface topography and contours were plotted with another set of freeware,the CADMAPPER and the QUIKGRID,to compare terrain gradient with the known data.Furthermore,this interdisciplinary research exhibits the extensive simulation capability of both EASE Focus and QUIKGRID and demonstrates the modelling versatility and deliverable potential of these freeware to benefit the budding architects and researchers.

Derivation and validation of a preoperative prognostic model for resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Background: The prognosis of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma(PDAC) remains poor even after radical pancreaticoduodenectomy(PD). The study aimed to develop and validate a novel preoperative prognostic model to accurately predict the long-term survival of patients with PDAC.Methods: Patients with PDAC of pancreatic head from Chinese PLA General Hospital were included. The preoperative PDAC model with contour plots was developed using a non-linear model in the training cohort and then tested in the validation cohort.Results: Of 421 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 280 were in the training cohort and 141 in the validation cohort. Contour plots for preoperative PDAC model were established to visually predict the survival probabilities of these patients, based on preoperative carbohydrate antigen 19-9, preoperative fibrinogen to albumin ratio and pain symptoms. This model stratified patients into low-and high-risk groups with distinctly different long-term survival in the training cohort [median overall survival(OS)32.1 vs. 17.5 months;median recurrence-free survival(RFS) 19.3 vs. 10.0 months, both P < 0.001] and the validation cohort(median OS 28.3 vs. 19.0 months;median RFS 17.5 vs. 11.2 months, both P < 0.001).Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic and decision curve analyses revealed that the model provided higher diagnostic accuracy and superior net benefit compared to other staging systems.Conclusions: This study constructed and validated a novel preoperative prognostic model that can accurately and conveniently predict the long-term survival of patients with resectable PDAC of pancreatic head. Besides, the model can screen high-risk patients with poor prognosis, which may provide references for personal treatment strategies in the future.

A test method for analyzing the deformation of landslide model

In order to study the overall deformation of geotechnical model conveniently,the worksite of landslide bridge foundation reinforced by the front and rear row anti-slide piles in Chenglan railway was taken as an example.On the basis of shaking tabe test of a 1/40 reduced scale model,the landslide deformation caused by vibration waves was monitored through burying self-made phosphor bronze strips in soil.Combined with the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the bending strain points on the phosphor bronze strips,the digital matrix was converted by applying Renka Cline random matrix generation method,and the two-dimensional contour plots were drawn based on it.The results showed that the two-dimensional contour plots reflected the basic law of landslide deformation reasonably,and it revealed the evolution process of landslide deformation and failure.The research conclusions were consistent with the test phenomenon,which met the basic requirements of overall deformation analysis of landslide model.This proposed method can monitor multiple cross sections and was practical for model test.

Development of a Predictive Model to Improve the Hardness of Mild Steel Welded Joint

Structural integrity of weldment is greatly influenced by its process parameters and usually, it is expected for a welded joint to be stronger than its parent metal, but in actual fact, most failures occur at the welded joints and it is mostly due to poor combination of process parameters or inexperience of the welder. This poor combination leads to poor hardness exhibited at the welded joint. The aim of this study is to predict and improve the hardness of mild steel welded zone using the tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to analyze the welded response. 200 pieces of mild steel coupons measuring 27.5 × 10 × 10 mm were prepared and used for the experiment, the experiment was performed 20 times, using 5 specimens for each run, after which the hardness was measured and results analyzed respectively. The study produced eighteen (18) optimum results with the best selected to produce a material hardness of 299.269 N/mm2 with desirability of 95.6%, resulting from current of 120 amp, voltages of 20 and gas flow rate of 12 L/min.