Is “Unconsummated Marriage” still an appropriate term? A snapshot of reality

The most shared definition of Unconsummated Marriage (UM) refers to “the failure to perform successful sexual intercourse at the beginning of the marriage. UM usually occurs in the first few nights of marriage and so it is frequently referred to as “honeymoon impotence” or “wedding night impotence”. In the Middle-Eastern (MES) and Western (WS) societies, sexuality follows different patterns in terms of meaning and rules. Moreover the evolution of societies all around the world created new contexts and kinds of relationship. This could hamper a correct taxonomy of such sexual dysfunction where a social variable seems crucial. Aim: To analyze and review data on UM all around the world, to understand if in different societies it refers to the same situation. Method: A review of published literature on UM from 1970 to date, was conducted. Results: Substantial difference emerged from MES to WS. In MES, sexuality is allowable only in marriage, while in WS sexuality and relationship are not strongly linked. This could suggest that the term “marriage” is unable to cover the phenomenon in such different countries. Moreover, the average time before the consultation, causal attribution and prevalence are very different in Western and Middle Eastern countries. Conclusion: We found that the term “first attempts dysfunction” could be better used to describe male, female or both difficulties related to ignorance about sexuality or state/performance anxiety. On the other hand over the individual category of sexual dysfunctions, we suggest a new term as “Unconsummated relationship”, where individual difficulties toward sexuality are involved creating a couple’s dysfunction. Keywords: Unconsummated marriage; Honeymoon impotence; White marriage; Vaginismus; Infertilit

Geological Criteria for Evaluating seismicity revisited: Forty Years of Paleoseismic Investigations and the Natural Record of Past Earthquakes

The identifi cation of individual past earthquakes and their characterization in time and space, as well as in magnitude, can be approached in many different ways with a large variety of methods and techniques, using a wide spectrum of objects and features. We revise the stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence currently used in the study of paleoseismicity, after more than three decades since the work by Allen (1975), which was arguably the fi rst critical overview in the fi eld of earthquake geology. Natural objects or geomarkers suitable for paleoseismic analyses are essentially preserved in the sediments, and in a broader sense, in the geologic record. Therefore, the study of these features requires the involvement of geoscientists, but very frequently it is a multidisciplinary effort. The constructed environment and heritage, which typically are the focus of archaeoseismology and macroseismology, here are left aside. The geomarkers suitable to paleoseismic assessment can be grouped based on their physical relation to the earthquake\u2019s causative fault. If directly associated with the fault surface rupture, these objects are known as direct or on-fault features (primary effects in the Environmental Seismic Intensity [ESI] 2007 scale). Conversely, those indicators not in direct contact with the fault plane are known as indirect or off-fault evidence (secondary effects in the ESI 2007 scale). This second class of evidence can be subdivided into three types or subclasses: type A, which encompasses seismically induced effects, including soft-sediment deformation (soil liquefaction, mud diapirism), mass movements (including slumps), broken (disturbed) speleothems, fallen precarious rocks, shattered basement rocks, and marks of degassing (pockmarks, mud volcanoes); type B, which consists of remobilized and redeposited sediments (turbidites, homogenites, and tsunamites) and transported rock fragments (erratic blocks); and type C, entailing regional markers of uplift or subsidence (such as reef tracts, microatolls, terrace risers, river channels, and in some cases progressive unconformities). The fi rst subclass of objects (type A) is generated by seismic shaking. The second subclass (type B) relates either to water bodies set in motion by the earthquake (for the sediments and erratic blocks) or to earthquake shaking; in a general way, they all relate to wave propagation through different materials. The third subclass (type C) is mostly related to the tectonic deformation itself and can range from local (next to the causative fault) to regional scale. The natural exposure of the paleoseismic objects\u2014which necessarily conditions the paleoseismic approach employed\u2014is largely controlled by the geodynamic setting. For instance, oceanic subduction zones are mostly submarine, while collisional settings tend to occur in continental environments. Divergent and wrenching margins may occur anywhere, in any marine, transitional, or continental environment. Despite the fact that most past subduction earthquakes have to be assessed through indirect evidence, paleoseismic analyses of this category of events have made dramatic progress recently, owing to the increasingly catastrophic impact that they have on human society

Simulation of hydrogenated graphene Field-Effect Transistors through a multiscale approach

In this work, we present a performance analysis of Field Effect Transistors based on recently fabricated 100% hydrogenated graphene (the so-called graphane) and theoretically predicted semi-hydrogenated graphene (i.e. graphone). The approach is based on accurate calculations of the energy bands by means of GW approximation, subsequently fitted with a three-nearest neighbor (3NN) sp3 tight-binding Hamiltonian, and finally used to compute ballistic transport in transistors based on functionalized graphene. Due to the large energy gap, the proposed devices have many of the advantages provided by one-dimensional graphene nanoribbon FETs, such as large Ion and Ion/Ioff ratios, reduced band-to-band tunneling, without the corresponding disadvantages in terms of prohibitive lithography and patterning requirements for circuit integration

Exact states and spectra of vibrationally dressed polaritons

Strong coupling between light and matter is possible with a variety of organic materials. In contrast to the simpler inorganic case, organic materials often have a complicated spectrum, with vibrationally dressed electronic transitions. Strong coupling to light competes with this vibrational dressing and, if strong enough, can suppress the entanglement between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom. By exploiting symmetries, we can perform exact numerical diagonalization to find the polaritonic states for intermediate numbers of molecules and use these to define and validate accurate expressions for the lower polariton states and strong-coupling spectrum in the thermodynamic limit. Using this approach, we find that vibrational decoupling occurs as a sharp transition above a critical matter-light coupling strength. We also demonstrate how the polariton spectrum evolves with the number of molecules, recovering classical linear optics results only at large N

The footprint of a historical paleoearthquake: the sixth-century-CE event in the European western Southern Alps

Low-deformation regions are characterized by long earthquake recurrence intervals. Here, it is fundamental to extend back the record of past events as much as possible to properly assess seismic hazards. Evidence from single sites or proxies may be not compelling, whereas we obtain a more substantial picture from the integration of paleo- and archeoseismic evidence at multiple sites, eventually supplemented with historical chronicles. In the city of Como (N Italy), we perform stratigraphic and sedimentological analyses on the sedimentary sequences at Via Manzoni and we document earthquake archeological effects at the Roman baths by means of structure from motion and field surveys. Radiocarbon dating and chronological constraints from the archeological site allow us to bracket the time of occurrence of the deformations to the sixth century CE. We interpret the observed deformations as due to earthquake ground shaking and provide constraints on the lower threshold for the triggering of such evidence. We move toward a regional view to infer possible relevant seismic sources by exploiting a dataset of published paleoseismic evidence in Swiss and N Italy lakes. We perform an inverse grid search to identify the magnitude and location of an earthquake that can explain all the positive and negative evidence consistent with the time interval of the event dated at Como. Our results show that an earthquake (minimum Mw 6.32) with epicenter located at the border between Italy and Switzerland may account for all the observed effects; a similar event in the sixth century CE has not been documented so far by historical sources. Our study calls for the need to refine the characterization of the local seismic hazard, especially considering that this region seems unprepared to face the effects of an earthquake size similar to the one inferred for the sixth-century-CE event.</p

Induced sputum cellularity. Reference values and distribution in normal volunteers.

Abstract Sputum induction has recently been proposed as the only direct noninvasive method for measuring airway inflammatory indices. The reference values and the distribution of cells in induced sputum in a control population have not yet been well defined. We therefore evaluated data from a large number of healthy volunteers. One hundred fourteen healthy, nonatopic, nonsmoking volunteers without airway hyperreactivity were enrolled (age: 38 +/- 13 yr [mean +/- SD]; FEV(1): 105 +/- 10% predicted; provocative dose of methacholine inducing a 20% decrease FEV(1) > 3,200 microgram). Ninety-six subjects (84%) produced adequate analysis samples. The subjects had a normal age distribution. Their induced sputum was rich in macrophages (69.2 +/- 13%) and neutrophils (27.3 +/- 13%), and poor in eosinophils (0.6 +/- 0.8%), lymphocytes (1.0 +/- 1.2%), and epithelial cells (1.5 +/- 1.8%). Only macrophages and neutrophils showed a normal distribution; total and differential counts of other cells did not. We propose that these data be used in comparison of the induced sputum cells of normal subjects and those of patients with airway inflammation

Stability Analysis of a Landslide Scarp by Means of Virtual Outcrops: The Mt. Peron Niche Area (Masiere di Vedana Rock Avalanche, Eastern Southern Alps)

We investigated the Mt. Peron niche area of the Masiere di Vedana rock avalanche (BL), one of the major mass movements that affected the Eastern Southern Alps in historical times. So far, a geomechanical characterization and a stability analysis of the niche area, where potential rockfall sources are present, are lacking. The Mt. Peron niche area is a rocky cliff almost inaccessible to field-based measurements. In order to overcome this issue, we performed a geo-structural characterization of a sector of the cliff by means of a UAV-based photogrammetric survey. From the virtual outcrop, we extracted the orientation of 159 fractures that were divided into sets based on a K-means clustering algorithm and field-checked with some measurements collected along a rappelling descent route down to the cliff. Finally, with the aim of evaluating the stability of the volume under investigation, we performed a stability analysis of three rock pillars included in our survey by means of a distinct element numerical simulation. Our results indicate that two out of the three pillars are characterized by a stable state, under the simulation assumptions, whereas the third is close to failure, and for this reason, its condition needs further investigation

Microscopic theory of polariton lasing via vibronically assisted scattering

Polariton lasing has recently been observed in strongly coupled crystalline anthracene microcavities. A simple model is developed describing the onset of the non-linear threshold based on a master equation including the relevant relaxation processes and employing realistic material parameters. The mechanism governing the build-up of the polariton population - namely bosonic stimulated scattering from the exciton reservoir via a vibronically assisted process - is characterized and its efficiency calculated on the basis of a microscopic theory. The role of polariton-polariton bimolecular quenching is identified and temperature dependent effects are discussed.Comment: 7 pages main text plus 3 appendices. 10 figure