In-process measurement

"I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers, you know something about it; when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind." The above statement was made by Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) about''' hundred years ago and is reproduced as the main theme of the present paper. The only qualification that should be made is that when Lord Kelvin made the above statement he did not think that the philosophy he expounded was specially appropriate to engineering manufacture. The present paper will consider how this philosophy can b3 applied to engineering manufacture only. ...[cont.

Lessons from bisexual erasure for asexual erasure

In the absence of research into the specific motives for asexual erasure, the motives for bisexual erasure as theorised by Kenji Yoshino are appropriated for that purpose. The motives to 1) preserve the stability of sexual orientations 2) preserve sex as an important distinguishing trait and 3) preserve norms of monogamy, identified as underpinning bisexual erasure, are each applied to asexuality. The conclusions reached suggest that motives 2) and 3) to erase bisexuality could theoretically be strengthened in the case of asexual erasure, and motive 1), while not logically applicable to asexuality, nonetheless suggests an additional potential reason why asexuality is erased

The design of a hydrostatic lubrication arrangement for the horizontal and transverse slides of a no. 3 archdale vertical milling machine

The Department of Production and Industrial Administration of The College of Aeronautics has made a detailed analysis into the performance of numerically controlled machine tools, and this shows that when these machines are operating under light cutting loads, the total envelope tolerance is about 0.003 ins. Further investigation into the source of the errors showed that about 80 per cent of this error was due to mechanical mechanisms in the machine tool. The electronic equipment operated inside a total band of 0.0004 ins. over small distances, and 0.0006 ins. over 10 inches. This situation appeared to justify a comprehensive survey into the methods which may be used to improve the mechanical performance of these machines. After due consideration had been given to a number of possible alternatives, it was decided to fit hydrostatic lubrication to the slides, nut and screw arrangement, and the thrust bearings used on the X and Y axes of an existing No. 3 Archdale Milling Machine. The Z axis was not included in the redesign, because analysis showed that a new head casting would have been necessary. It was thought that this additional expense was not justified and that the data obtained from an examination of the performance given by the X and Y axes would show whether the system could be used with advantage in the design of new machines. The paper gives details of the calculations used to establish the dimensions of the new features fitted to the machine to satisfy the target performance conditions which appeared to be possible and are given in the introduction. The authors would like to express their appreciation to James Archdale and Co. for making a machine available for this investigation, to the Staveley Research Department, and in particular to Mr. Graham, Mr. Harris, Mr. Huntley) M r. Cummings and Mr. Hayward

Shaped by familiarity: Memory, Space and Materiality at Imperial War Museum North

This paper considers Imperial War Museum North’s attempts to disturb popularmemories about British experiences of war through the mobilisation of space andmateriality. However, it is argued that this does not succeed because of the spatial mediation and object placement employed throughout which allow the museum to reinforce bodily, spatial and historical experiences of the outside world. The second part of the paper analyses the neglected place of the museum shop inthis, which contributes to making the IWM visit one of familiarity because of thequotidian consumption practices that are encouraged there

Uncertainty quantification and management in multidisciplinary design optimisation.

We analyse the uncertainty present at the structural-sizing stage of aircraft design due to interactions between aeroelastic loading and incomplete structural definition. In particular, we look at critical load case identification: the process of identifying the flight conditions at which the maximum loading conditions occur from sparse, expensive to obtain data. To address this challenge, we investigate the construction of robust emulators: probabilistic models of computer code outputs, which explicitly and reliably model their predictive uncertainty. Using Gaussian process regression, we show how such models can be derived from simple and intuitive considerations about the interactions between parameter inference and data, and via state-of-the- art statistical software, develop a generally applicable and easy to use method for constructing them. The effectiveness of these models is demonstrated on a range of synthetic and engineering test functions. We then use them to approach two facets of critical load case identification: sample efficient searching for the critical cases via Bayesian optimisation, and probabilistic assessment of possible locations for the critical cases from a given sample; the latter facilitating quantitative downselection of candidate load cases by ruling out regions of the search space with a low probability of containing the critical cases, potentially saving a designer many hours of simulation time. Finally, we show how the presence of design variability in the loads analysis implies a stochastic process, and attempt to construct a model for this by parametrisation of its marginal distributions.PhD in Aerospac

Author Correction: Long-term field comparison of multiple low-cost particulate matter sensors in an outdoor urban environment

Correction to: Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-43716-3, published online 16 May 2019. This Article contains a typographical error in the Acknowledgements section. “Natural Environmental Research Council grant number [NE/L002531/1]” should read: “Natural Environment Research Council: NE/N012070/1”

Anti-inflammatory effects of the petasin phyto drug Ze339 are mediated by inhibition of the STAT pathway

Ze339, an herbal extract from Petasites hybridus leaves is effective in treatment of allergic rhinitis by inhibition of a local production of IL-8 and eicosanoid LTB4 in allergen-challenged patients. However, the mechanism of action and anti-inflammatory potential in virally induced exacerbation of the upper airways is unknown. This study investigates the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of Ze339 on primary human nasal epithelial cells (HNECs) upon viral, bacterial and pro-inflammatory triggers. To investigate the influence of viral and bacterial infections on the airways, HNECs were stimulated with viral mimics, bacterial toll-like-receptor (TLR)-ligands or cytokines, in presence or absence of Ze339. The study uncovers Ze339 modulated changes in pro-inflammatory mediators and decreased neutrophil chemotaxis as well as a reduction of the nuclear translocation and phosphorylation of STAT molecules. Taken together, this study suggests that phyto drug Ze339 specifically targets STAT-signalling pathways in HNECs and has high potential as a broad anti-inflammatory drug that exceeds current indication

Laboratory comparison of low-cost particulate matter sensors to measure transient events of pollution

Airborne particulate matter (PM) exposure has been identified as a key environmental risk factor, associated especially with diseases of the respiratory and cardiovascular system and with almost 9 million premature deaths per year. Low-cost optical sensors for PM measurement are desirable for monitoring exposure closer to the personal level and particularly suited for developing spatiotemporally dense city sensor networks. However, questions remain over the accuracy and reliability of the data they produce, particularly regarding the influence of environmental parameters such as humidity and temperature, and with varying PM sources and concentration profiles. In this study, eight units each of five different models of commercially available low-cost optical PM sensors (40 individual sensors in total) were tested under controlled laboratory conditions, against higher-grade instruments for: lower limit of detection, response time, responses to sharp pollution spikes lasting <1 min , and the impact of differing humidity and PM source. All sensors detected the spikes generated with a varied range of performances depending on the model and presenting different sensitivity mainly to sources of pollution and to size distributions with a lesser impact of humidity. The sensitivity to particle size distribution indicates that the sensors may provide additional information to PM mass concentrations. It is concluded that improved performance in field monitoring campaigns, including tracking sources of pollution, could be achieved by using a combination of some of the different models to take advantage of the additional information made available by their differential response

Cellular crosstalk between airway epithelial and endothelial cells regulates barrier functions during exposure to double-stranded RNA

Introduction: The epithelial and endothelial barriers of the airway mucosa are critical for regulation of tissue homeostasis and protection against pathogens or other tissue damaging agents. In response to a viral infection, epithelial cells must signal to the endothelium to initiate immune cell recruitment. This is a highly temporal regulated process; however, the mechanisms of this cross-talk are not fully understood. Methods: In a close-contact co-culture model of human airway epithelial and endothelial cells cellular crosstalk was analysed using transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) measurements, immunofluorescence, electron microscopy and ELISA. Viral infections were simulated by exposing airway epithelial cells apically to double-stranded RNA (Poly(I:C)). Using a microfluidic culture system the temporal release of mediators was analysed in the co-culture model. Results: Within 4h of challenge, double-stranded RNA induced the release of TNF-a by epithelial cells. This activated endothelial cells by triggering the release of the chemoattractant CX3CL1 (fractalkine) by 8h post-challenge and expression of adhesion molecules E-selectin and ICAM-1. These responses were significantly reduced by neutralising TNF-a. Conclusion: By facilitating kinetic profiling, the microfluidic co-culture system has enabled identification of a key signalling mechanism between the epithelial and endothelial barriers. Better understanding of cell-cell cross-talk and its regulatory mechanisms has the potential to identify new therapeutic strategies to control airway inflammation