Capture of manufacturing uncertainty in turbine blades through probabilistic techniques

Efficient designing of the turbine blades is critical to the performance of an aircraft engine. An area of significant research interest is the capture of manufacturing uncertainty in the shapes of these turbine blades. The available data used for estimation of this manufacturing uncertainty inevitably contains the effects of measurement error/noise. In the present work, we propose the application of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for de-noising the measurement data and quantifying the underlying manufacturing uncertainty. Once the PCA is performed, a method for dimensionality reduction has been proposed which utilizes prior information available on the variance of measurement error for different measurement types. Numerical studies indicate that approximately 82% of the variation in the measurements from their design values is accounted for by the manufacturing uncertainty, while the remaining 18% variation is filtered out as measurement error

Effects of breed type, silage harvest date and pattern of offering concentrates on intake, performance and carcass traits of finishing steers

peer-reviewedThe objective of this experiment was to investigate the effects and interactions of breed type, silage harvest date and pattern of offering concentrates on intake, performance and carcass traits of finishing steers. Seventy-two steers (36 Friesian and 36 beef cross) were blocked on weight within breed type and assigned to a pre-experimental slaughter group or to one of 4 dietary treatments in a 2 (breed type) 2 (early- or late- cut silage) 2 (flat rate or varied pattern of offering concentrates) factorial arrangement of treatments. The flat-rate feeding pattern was silage ad libitum plus 5 kg concentrates per head daily to slaughter. The varied feeding pattern was silage only for 79 days followed by concentrates ad libitum to slaughter. All animals were slaughtered together after 164 days when the groups on the two feeding patterns had consumed the same total quantity of concentrates. Friesians had a higher (P < 0.001) silage dry matter (DM) intake and a higher (P < 0.01) total DM intake than the beef crosses. Live-weight gain was similar for both breed types but the beef-cross animals had a higher (P < 0.001) kill-out proportion, higher (P < 0.01) carcass gain, and better (P < 0.001) carcass conformation than the Friesians. The beef-cross type also had a higher (P < 0.001) proportion of muscle and a lower (P < 0.001) proportion of bone in the carcass. Silage harvest date had no effect on silage or total DM intakes but the early-cut silage did result in higher (P < 0.01) carcass gain. Animals on the varied feeding pattern consumed less (P < 0.01) silage DM and less (P < 0.001) total DM than those on the flat rate feeding pattern. Live-weight gain and carcass gain were similar for the two feeding patterns. It is concluded that Friesians had a higher intake, but had lower carcass gain than the beef-cross type. Animals on the early-cut silage had higher carcass gain than those on the late-cut silage. The varied feeding pattern resulted in lower DM intake but efficiency of feed energy utilisation was similar for both feeding patterns. Interactions were generally not statistically significant

Feed intake pattern, behaviour, rumen characteristics and blood metabolites of finishing beef steers offered total mixed rations constituted at feeding or ensiling

peer-reviewedTwo experiments were undertaken. In Experiment 1, behaviour, intake pattern and blood metabolites, were recorded for steers offered total mixed rations (TMR) based on grass silage and concentrates, and constituted either at ensiling (E-TMR) or feedout (F-TMR). Fourteen continental crossbred steers (mean starting weight 505 (s.d. 41.5) kg) were assigned to each of the following eight treatments: grass silage offered ad libitum (SO), E-TMR diets constituted in approximate dry matter (DM) ratios of grass:concentrates of 75:25 (EL), 50:50 (EM) and 25:75 (EH), F-TMR diets constituted in approximate DM ratios of grass silage:concentrates of 75:25 (FL), 50:50 (FM) and 25:75 (FH), and finally concentrates ad libitum (AL). Total DM intake increased linearly (P < 0.001) and the time spent eating and ruminating decreased linearly (P < 0.001) with increasing concentrate proportion. Animals on the F-TMR diets had higher total DM intakes (P < 0.05) and plasma glucose (P < 0.05) and urea (P < 0.001) concentrations than animals on the corresponding E-TMR diets. No effect of method of feed preparation on intake pattern or behaviour was recorded. In Experiment 2, four ruminally cannulated Holstein-Friesian steers of mean initial live weight 630 (s.d. 23.2) kg were used to evaluate rumen characteristics for four of the above diets (FL, EL, FH and EH) in a 4 × 4 latin square design. Higher concentrate diets resulted in lower rumen pH (P < 0.05), higher lactic acid (P < 0.001) and ammonia (P < 0.05) concentrations and lower acetate:propionate (P < 0.05). F-TMR was associated with a higher (P < 0.05) rumen volatile fatty acid concentration but no difference in other rumen fermentation characteristics compared to E-TMR. Concentrate proportion and method of feed preparation had no effect (P > 0.05) on rumen pool sizes but animals consuming the high concentrate diet had a faster (P < 0.05) rumen passage rate of NDF than animals on the low concentrate diet.B. Cummins was in receipt of a Teagasc Walsh Fellowship

Online peer support for students

While many UK higher education institutions have websites offering information and advice on common student problems, interactive online support is less common. This article describes a project developing internet-based mutual support for students experiencing psychological problems at University College London

Beef Cattle Instance Segmentation Using Fully Convolutional Neural Network

In this paper we present a novel instance segmentation algorithm that extends a fully convolutional network to learn to label objects separately without prediction of regions of interest. We trained the new algorithm on a challenging CCTV recording of beef cattle, as well as benchmark MS COCO and Pascal VOC datasets. Extensive experimentation showed that our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art solutions by up to 8% on our data

Conservation characteristics of grass and dry sugar beet pulp co-ensiled after different degrees of mixing

peer-reviewedThe objective of this experiment was to quantify the effects of the degree of mixing of dry molassed sugar beet pulp (BP) with grass on silage conservation characteristics. Herbage from a timothy (Phleum pratense) sward was precision chopped and treated with a formic acid based additive (3 l/t grass). Units of 50 kg grass, without or with 2.5kg BP were randomly allocated among four replicates on each of seven treatments. The treatments were (1) no BP (NONE), (2) BP evenly mixed through the grass (EVEN), (3) BP evenly mixed through the lower 25 kg grass (LOWH), (4) BP evenly mixed through the lower 12.5 kg grass (LOWQ), (5) 0.625 kg BP mixed through the top 25 kg grass and 1.875 kg SBP mixed through the lower 25 kg grass (25/75), (6) BP placed in 0.5 kg layers beneath each 10 kg grass (LAYR), and (7) BP placed in a single layer under all of the grass (BOTM). Laboratory silos were filled and sealed, and stored at 15 °C for 163 days. Effluent was collected and weighed from each silo throughout the ensilage period. At opening, silage composition and aerobic stability measurements were made. Total outflow of effluent was reduced (P<0.001) by the addition of BP; LAYR had a greater effect (P<0.001) than any of the other treatments. Effluent dry matter (DM) concentration was highest (P<0.05) for BOTM and lowest (P<0.01) for NONE. All treatments underwent similar lactic-acid dominant fermentations. Incorporation of BP with grass increased silage DM concentration (P<0.001), in vitro DM digestibility (P<0.05) and water soluble carbohydrate (P<0.001) concentration and reduced acid detergent fibre (P<0.001) concentration. Aerobic stability was similar across treatments and aerobic deterioration at 192 h was higher (P<0.05) for LOWQ, 25/75, LAYR and BOTM than for NONE. In conclusion, the incorporation of BP increased silage DM digestibility but had relatively little effect on fermentation or aerobic stability. Placing BP in layers gave the largest and most sustained restriction in effluent output.B. Cummins acknowledges receipt of a Walsh Fellowship provided by Teagasc

A Cosmic Census of Radio Pulsars with the SKA

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will make ground breaking discoveries in pulsar science. In this chapter we outline the SKA surveys for new pulsars, as well as how we will perform the necessary follow-up timing observations. The SKA's wide field-of-view, high sensitivity, multi-beaming and sub-arraying capabilities, coupled with advanced pulsar search backends, will result in the discovery of a large population of pulsars. These will enable the SKA's pulsar science goals (tests of General Relativity with pulsar binary systems, investigating black hole theorems with pulsar-black hole binaries, and direct detection of gravitational waves in a pulsar timing array). Using SKA1-MID and SKA1-LOW we will survey the Milky Way to unprecedented depth, increasing the number of known pulsars by more than an order of magnitude. SKA2 will potentially find all the Galactic radio-emitting pulsars in the SKA sky which are beamed in our direction. This will give a clear picture of the birth properties of pulsars and of the gravitational potential, magnetic field structure and interstellar matter content of the Galaxy. Targeted searches will enable detection of exotic systems, such as the ~1000 pulsars we infer to be closely orbiting Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre. In addition, the SKA's sensitivity will be sufficient to detect pulsars in local group galaxies. To derive the spin characteristics of the discoveries we will perform live searches, and use sub-arraying and dynamic scheduling to time pulsars as soon as they are discovered, while simultaneously continuing survey observations. The large projected number of discoveries suggests that we will uncover currently unknown rare systems that can be exploited to push the boundaries of our understanding of astrophysics and provide tools for testing physics, as has been done by the pulsar community in the past.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, to be published in: "Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array", Proceedings of Science, PoS(AASKA14)04

The Term Securities Lending Facility: origin, design, and effects

The Federal Reserve launched the Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF) in 2008 to promote liquidity in the funding markets and improve the operation of the broader financial markets. The facility increases the ability of dealers to obtain cash in the private market by enabling them to pledge securities temporarily as collateral for Treasuries, which are relatively easy to finance. The TSLF thus reduces the need for dealers to sell assets into illiquid markets as well as lessens the likelihood of a loss of confidence among lenders.Liquidity (Economics) ; Financial markets ; Federal Reserve System ; Treasury notes

Modelling Eligibility for Medical Cards and GP Visit Cards: Methods and Baseline Results. ESRI WP515. November 2015

The Irish healthcare system includes a complex mix of entitlements – some are universal, others age-related, and some are income-related. In this report, we concentrate on the major income-related entitlements in the current system i.e., the Medical Card and the GP Visit Card. Most medical cards are provided on an income-tested basis, and provide free access to in-patient and out-patient care in public hospitals, to GP care, and to prescription drugs. We examine how the income test for such schemes can be modelled using the detailed income and demographic information in the Survey on Income and Living Conditions. The approach taken applies the rules for income-related cards to each family in this nationally representative sample, using the information they provide on incomes and family composition. This is essential groundwork for later studies which will examine how the pattern of entitlements might change under different rules, such as those introducing age-related entitlements to GP visit cards, or changes in income limits