Search

The present study aims to determine the probability of glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF) in the Himalaya. Here, a total of 4198 glacial lakes with larger dimensions (>0.01 km2) were considered. A fusion between Object-based classification (OBC) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied for unbiased results, involving the fifteen most essential predictors. The previously studied threshold values of predictors were used in OBC to determine GLOF prone lakes. On the other hand, earthquake, lake freeboard, moraine dam steepness, avalanches, and lake size change rate were prioritized for the AHP method. Individually, OBC and AHP methods identified 107 and 224 critical lakes. However, as a fusion of the above techniques (GIS overlay analysis), our study identified 60 critical lakes, followed by 164 and 3974 glacial lakes with medium and lower probability of GLOF. 95% of the higher GLOF-probable lakes are concentrated in the Kosi (33), Pelkhu (7), and Tista (5) river basins; sub-regionally coincide with Sikkim, Everest, Bhutan and Langtang region.

Background Rathke cleft cysts (RCCs) are known sellar/suprasellar lesions that can grow and become symptomatic. For most asymptomatic lesions, stability is a typical outcome of surveillance; however, random relapse or cyst size fluctuation may also be observed. The conventional treatment for growing cysts is transsphenoidal removal. Methods A literature review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. For significance, all journals were screened. Only records of tissue diagnosed RCCs with changes in size were included. Age and sex at diagnosis, size of the lesion, symptoms (if any), pituitary dysfunction, follow-up period, and size reduction were included in the data items. Results A total of 4 articles where selected after the second exclusion method. Three articles where case series and one was a case report. Eight total patients where histologically proven to have Rathke cleft cysts which fluctuated in size without intervention. Conclusion This review shows that RCCs can decrease or fluctuate in size following a dynamic process that is not fully understood. In the absence of symptoms, a larger cyst or an absolute increase in a cyst size, which may traditionally provoke an early surgical intervention, should be assessed and managed carefully to avoid potentially unneeded surgical morbidity.

Western populations have been getting progressively heavier and the prevalence of obesity in the general population has become a major public health problem. A potential contributory factor in the rise of obesity is the inability to accurately detect weight increase using visual cues. This is a problem not only for members of the public whose weight is increasing, but also for health care professionals who need to detect weight gain in their patients. Three main visual biases effect body judgements; contraction bias, adaptation and Weber’s law. Contraction bias (a result of how we estimate body size) leads to people over-estimating the BMI of bodies thinner than the average and significantly under-estimating the BMI of bodies heavier than the average. Adaptation (the effect of seeing heavier bodies in the general population) leads to a shift in what people regard as a normal and acceptable body size towards a heavier BMI. Weber’s law (which requires a detectable size change to be a fixed proportion of the body’s total size) means that size change in obese bodies becomes increasingly difficult to detect. The cumulative effect of these visual biases is to make it harder to detect both being obese and weight increase when obese

If an object changes position at the onset of a reach-to-grasp movement, both the transport speed and the grip aperture are adjusted. If the object changes in size at the onset, only the grip aperture is adjusted. This combination of results has been interpreted as being the consequence of a hierarchical relationship between visuomotor channels for transport and grip. We argue that our alternative view on grasping can account for the observed behaviour without making new assumptions. In our view, grasping consists of smooth (minimal jerk) movements of each digit to a target position on the object. The digits' target positions change, both when object position and when object size change. A model in which the individual digits move smoothly to these new positions yields the same behaviour as is observed experimentally.

This study presents the analysis of 7966 individual cattle, sheep, pig and domestic hen bone measurements from 105 sites excavated in London dating to the period AD 1220–1900. Multiple episodes of size change are identified, although the speed and timing varies by species. The earliest evidence for size change in cattle and sheep occurs in the early 14th century and may be connected to the need to restock livestock populations following the outbreaks of murrain in the first half of that century. Subsequent size increases in livestock size may have occurred as a combined consequence of agricultural innovations in the wake of the Black Death, the increasing commercialisation of animal farming, as the meat requirements of an expanding London grew, and the rise of the ethic of improvement.

Most part shrinkage takes place within a very short time after the part is molded, typically within 16–48 h after demolding. The reduction in volume during this initial period is a result of solidification and thermal contraction as the molded part cools to room temperature. This rapid size change is influenced by the variables discussed in Chapters 2–6 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 , namely material properties, part geometry, the runner and gate systems, melt temperature, mold temperature, injection pressure, holding pressure, and so on.

Publisher Summary Abnormal grain growth is a coarsening type of microstructure where some large grains grow unusually quickly in a matrix of fine grains with a very slow growth rate. In terms of microstructure, grain size distribution is bimodal, unlike in normal grain growth with a unimodal distribution. Sometimes, a distinction between normal and abnormal grain growth is ambiguous. Abnormal grain growth is characterized by fast growth of a few large grains in a matrix of fine grains of which the size change with annealing time is almost nil or at least negligible compared to that of the abnormal grains. Abnormal grain growth can also occur in high chemical in equilibrium, such as in the Y-SiAlON system. When the Y-β-SiAlON grains form from Y-α-SiAlON in an oxynitride glass, which is in equilibrium with Y-β-SiAlON, abnormally large grains can also form.

Normally, economists take the size of countries as an exogenous variable. Nevertheless, the borders of countries and their size change, partially in response to economic factors such as the pattern of international trade. Conversely, the size of countries influences their economic performance and their preferences for international economic policies – for instance smaller countries have a greater stake in maintaining free trade. In this paper, we review the theory and evidence concerning a growing body of research that considers both the impact of market size on growth and the endogenous determination of country size. We argue that our understanding of economic performance and of the history of international economic integration can be greatly improved by bringing the issue of country size at the forefront of the analysis of growth.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the engineering aspects of incorporating stimuli responsive (pH-sensitive) hydrogels into microscale devices. Hydrogels are 3D network of polymers that are capable of retaining solvents. A subset of hydrogels, stimuli-responsive hydrogels, have the ability to discontinuously change size at a certain level of stimulus. As actuators, since the size change can be harnessed to perform useful work, a single hydrogel structure can function as a complete feedback system, simultaneously sensing and reacting to stimulus levels. Hydrogels have been developed to be responsive to temperature, light, electric fields, antigens, and other stimuli, and should be able to be incorporated into micro fluidic devices. Selectivity and sensitivity also determine the practicality of a hydrogel–based system. Selectivity to a specific input, a certain ion, is largely controlled by the hydrogel chemistry. However, sensitivity to small amounts of input signal can be achieved in several ways. Further advancements in the development of hydrogels responsive to biological signals open additional applications for the technology.