138 research outputs found
Between platonic love and internet pornography
The article sets out to show how an holistic approach in matters of sexuality is always more helpful than one-sided approaches. On the issue of internet pornography, the authors suggest that the recent anti-masturbation online movement ‘no fapping’ is based on wrong conclusions from insufficient evidence. We suggest that a holistic approach is called for, with emphasis on the embodied human. Abstinence or what is understood by ‘Platonic love’ is not a solution, according to Plato himself. From a phenomenological perspective, we suggest owning up to our strange bodies and habitualising sexual activity
Two-dimensional finite element simulation of fracture and fatigue behaviours of alumina microstructures for hip prosthesis
This paper describes a two-dimensional (2D) finite element simulation for
fracture and fatigue behaviours of pure alumina microstructures such as those
found at hip prostheses. Finite element models are developed using actual Al2O3
microstructures and a bilinear cohesive zone law. Simulation conditions are
similar to those found at a slip zone in a dry contact between a femoral head
and an acetabular cup of hip prosthesis. Contact stresses are imposed to
generate cracks in the models. Magnitudes of imposed stresses are higher than
those found at the microscopic scale. Effects of microstructures and contact
stresses are investigated in terms of crack formation. In addition, fatigue
behaviour of the microstructure is determined by performing simulations under
cyclic loading conditions. It is shown that crack density observed in a
microstructure increases with increasing magnitude of applied contact stress.
Moreover, crack density increases linearly with respect to the number of
fatigue cycles within a given contact stress range. Meanwhile, as applied
contact stress increases, number of cycles to failure decreases gradually.
Finally, this proposed finite element simulation offers an effective method for
identifying fracture and fatigue behaviours of a microstructure provided that
microstructure images are available
Pressure dependent relaxation in the photo-excited Mott insulator ETF2TCNQ:Influence of hopping and correlations on quasiparticle recombination rates
Femtosecond relaxation of photo-excited quasiparticles in the one dimensional
Mott insulator ET-F2TCNQ are measured as a function of external pressure, which
is used to tune the electronic structure. By fitting the static optical
properties and measuring femtosecond decay times at each pressure value, we
correlate the relaxation rates with the electronic bandwidth t and on the
intersite correlation energy V. The scaling of relaxation times with
microscopic parameters is different than for metals and semiconductors. The
competition between localization and delocalization of the Mott-Hubbard exciton
dictates the efficiency of the decay, as exposed by a fit based on the solution
of the time-dependent extended Hubbard Hamiltonian.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, final version including supplementary material
Role of biomarkers in early infectious complications after lung transplantation
Background Infections and primary graft dysfunction are devastating complications in the immediate postoperative period following lung transplantation. Nowadays, reliable diagnostic tools are not available. Biomarkers could improve early infection diagnosis. Methods Multicentre prospective observational study that included all centres authorized to perform lung transplantation in Spain. Lung infection and/or primary graft dysfunction presentation during study period (first postoperative week) was determined. Biomarkers were measured on ICU admission and daily till ICU discharge or for the following 6 consecutive postoperative days. Results We included 233 patients. Median PCT levels were significantly lower in patients with no infection than in patients with Infection on all follow up days. PCT levels were similar for PGD grades 1 and 2 and increased significantly in grade 3. CRP levels were similar in all groups, and no significant differences were observed at any study time point. In the absence of PGD grade 3, PCT levels above median (0.50 ng/ml on admission or 1.17 ng/ml on day 1) were significantly associated with more than two- and three-fold increase in the risk of infection (adjusted Odds Ratio 2.37, 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 5.30 and 3.44, 95% confidence interval 1.52 to 7.78, respectively). Conclusions In the absence of severe primary graft dysfunction, procalcitonin can be useful in detecting infections during the first postoperative week. PGD grade 3 significantly increases PCT levels and interferes with the capacity of PCT as a marker of infection. PCT was superior to CRP in the diagnosis of infection during the study period
The interior of Mars as seen by InSight (Invited)
InSight is the first planetary mission dedicated to exploring the whole interior of a planet using geophysical methods, specifically seismology and geodesy. To this end, we observed seismic waves of distant marsquakes and inverted for interior models using differential travel times of phases reflected at the surface (PP, SS...) or the core mantle-boundary (ScS), as well as those converted at crustal interfaces. Compared to previous orbital observations1-3, the seismic data added decisive new insights with consequences for the formation of Mars: The global average crustal thickness of 24-75 km is at the low end of pre-mission estimates5. Together with the the thick lithosphere of 450-600 km5, this requires an enrichment of heat-producing elements in the crust by a factor of 13-20, compared to the primitive mantle. The iron-rich liquid core is 1790-1870 km in radius6, which rules out the existence of an insulating bridgmanite-dominated lower mantle on Mars. The large, and therefore low-density core needs a high amount of light elements. Given the geochemical boundary conditions, Sulfur alone cannot explain the estimated density of ~6 g/cm3 and volatile elements, such as oxygen, carbon or hydrogen are needed in significant amounts. This observation is difficult to reconcile with classical models of late formation from the same material as Earth. We also give an overview of open questions after three years of InSight operation on the surface of Mars, such as the potential existence of an inner core or compositional layers above the CM
A new setup for the quantitative analysis of drying by the use of gas-phase FTIR-spectroscopy
Drying rates are important for the manufacture of thin films and in specific for the production of electrodes used in electrochemical devices such as fuel cells and electrolyzers. The known procedures to investigate time-dependent sample compositions and selective evaporation rates are insufficient to obtain mean information about the full area instead of a single point analysis. Therefore, a new setup is presented using gas-phase Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. This method analyzes the gas-phase composition to recalculate the layer composition in electrode fabrication at any time during drying. According to the golden rule of measurement technology, manufacturer specifications are often overestimated. Therefore, our alternative procedures were used to evaluate the precision of devices used. The calculated measurement precision is confirmed by validation. The expected deviation is quantified to be less than 2% for the common application. Further on, the relative test-retest standard deviation is determined to be 0.3%-0.4%. As a result of the error propagation, the measurement precision is limited by the background gas flow rate precision for common application. At low volume fractions, the influence of the substance flow rate deviations becomes significant. However, further studies will focus on increasing the gas flow rate precision
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