Prenatal coparenting alliance and marital satisfaction when pregnancy occurs after assisted reproductive technologies or spontaneously

Although the coparenting relationship has been described as key in family dynamics, very few studies have assessed its development during pregnancy after assisted reproductive technology (ART). In this study, the authors compared the prenatal coparenting relationship in 33 couples who conceived through ART with that of 49 couples who conceived spontaneously, and assessed the association between marital satisfaction and the prenatal coparenting alliance. The first-time parents were met during the second trimester of pregnancy. A validated observational task (the Prenatal Lausanne Trilogue Play) was used to assess their prenatal coparenting relationship, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale was used to evaluate marital satisfaction. No differences were observed in the two groups\u2019 global prenatal coparenting scores, but the ART couples showed less coparental playfulness than those who conceived spontaneously. Marital satisfaction was higher in women who conceived through ART. These data suggest that infertility and its treatment affect the prenatal coparenting and marital relationships in different ways

Bimagnon studies in cuprates with Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering at the O K edge. I - An assessment on La2CuO4 and a comparison with the excitation at Cu L3 and Cu K edges

We assess the capabilities of magnetic Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) at the O $K$ edge in undoped cuprates by taking La_{2}CuO_{4} as a benchmark case, based on a series of RIXS measurements that we present here. By combining the experimental results with basic theory we point out the fingerprints of bimagnon in the O $K$ edge RIXS spectra. These are a dominant peak around 450 meV, the almost complete absence of dispersion both with $\pi$ and $\sigma$ polarization and the almost constant intensity vs. the transferred momentum with $\sigma$ polarization. This behavior is quite different from Cu $L_3$ edge RIXS giving a strongly dispersing bimagnon tending to zero at the center of the Brillouin zone. This is clearly shown by RIXS measurements at the Cu $L_3$ edge that we present. The Cu $L_3$ bimagnon spectra and those at Cu $K$ edge - both from the literature and from our data - however, have the same shape. These similarities and differences are understood in terms of different sampling of the bimagnon continuum. This panorama points out the unique possibilities offered by O $K$ RIXS in the study of magnetic excitations in cuprates near the center of the BZ

Orbital occupancies and the putative jeff = 1/2 groundstate in Ba2IrO4: a combined oxygen K edge XAS and RIXS study

The nature of the electronic groundstate of Ba2IrO4 has been addressed using soft X-ray absorption and inelastic scattering techniques in the vicinity of the oxygen K edge. From the polarization and angular dependence of XAS we deduce an approximately equal superposition of xy, yz and zx Ir4+ 5d orbitals. By combining the measured orbital occupancies, with the value of the spin-orbit coupling provided by RIXS, we estimate the crystal field splitting associated with the tetragonal distortion of the IrO6 octahedra to be small, \Delta=50(50) meV. We thus conclude definitively that Ba2IrO4 is a close realization of a spin-orbit Mott insulator with a jeff = 1/2 groundstate, thereby overcoming ambiguities in this assignment associated with the interpretation of X-ray resonant scattering experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Seismic risk of critical facilities in the Dominican Republic: case study of school buildings

Abstract The island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, is located in a subduction zone between the North America plate and the Caribbean plate. In addition, there are 13 geological faults in the interior of the island, some of which have shown the potential to generate earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 and higher. Thus, the whole island is considered to be a high seismic risk region. In the past 100 years, several earthquakes have affected both parts of the island. In the case of the Dominican Republic, two earthquakes stand out: a magnitude 8.1 earthquake on August 4, 1946, north of the Samaná Province, which caused a tsunami, soil liquefaction, and the loss of about 100 lives, and a magnitude 6.5 earthquake on September 22, 2003, in the city of Puerto Plata, which caused significant damage for infrastructures. Among the observed effects, the partial and total collapse of several school buildings had a remarkable impact on local communities. In addition to the high seismic risk, a large part of the national infrastructure may exhibit high vulnerability to earthquakes because the seismic regulations had been the same for 32 years, namely from 1979 to 2011. During these three decades, thousands of structures were built nationwide, including essential facilities such as hospitals and schools. Considering that the current student population in public schools in the Dominican Republic is over 2 million, with the majority attending buildings that were designed with the 1979 seismic code and which proved to be highly vulnerable during the Puerto Plata earthquake, it is vital to take measures that reduce the risk and minimize potential earthquake damage to school buildings. In this context, the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC) has undertaken recently a project with the main objective to assess the seismic vulnerability of 22 schools located in the San Cristóbal Province, in the south of the Dominican Republic. The latter schools were all built prior to the adoption of the current updated seismic code. This paper presents the results of the assessment of the Fernando Cabral Ortega School. Although only the results of a single RC building are presented, the response of such structure can be considered representative of a portfolio of existing schools in Dominican Republic

Determination of the local structure of Sr2−x_{2-x}Mx_xIrO4_4 (M = K, La) as a function of doping and temperature

The local structure of correlated spin-orbit insulator Sr$_{2-x}$M$_x$IrO$_4$ (M = K, La) has been investigated by Ir L$_3$-edge extended x-ray absorption fine structure measurements. The measurements were performed as a function of temperature for different dopings induced by substitution of Sr with La or K. It is found that Ir-O bonds have strong covalency and they hardly show any change across the N\'eel temperature. In the studied doping range, neither Ir-O bonds nor their dynamics, measured by their mean square relative displacements, show any appreciable change upon carrier doping, indicating possibility of a nanoscale phase separation in the doped system. On the other hand, there is a large increase of the static disorder in Ir-Sr correlation, larger for K doping than La doping. Similarities and differences with respect to the local lattice displacements in cuprates are briefly discussed.Comment: Main text: 6 pages, 4 figures, Supplemental information: 2 pages, 2 figure

Effects of A -site ordering on the Mn local structure and polar phases of R Ba Mn 2 O 6 ( R = La , Nd, Sm, and Y)

We have investigated the temperature dependence of the Mn local structure in A-site ordered RBaMn2O6 (R = La, Nd, Sm, and Y) perovskites, in parallel with their disordered counterparts, R0.5Ba0.5MnO3, by means of x-ray emission (XES) and x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) The end member LaBaMn2O6 shows a nearly regular MnO6 octahedron independent of temperature. With decreasing the R ionic radius in the ordered samples, the XAS results indicate that a local distortion develops in the MnO6 octahedron at the low-temperature charge-localized and polar phases. For NdBaMn2O6, this local distortion is tiny, indicating the absence of charge segregation at the Mn site. This is followed by a bigger local distortion anticipated for SmBaMn2O6 in its respective charge-localized and polar phase and finally, the biggest local distortion for the smallest A-site cation ordered compound, YBaMn2O6, for which it even persists above the polar charge-localization transition temperatures. The high-resolution XAS spectra confirm the presence of charge segregation between two nonequivalent Mn sites in the low-temperature polar phase of Sm and Y ordered samples. Thus, our XAS study suggests a displacive mechanism for the charge-localization and polar transitions in the Nd and Sm ordered samples while a combination of displacive and order-disorder contributions is revealed for YBaMn2O6. Besides, calorimetric measurements confirm the combination of the two mechanisms, order-disorder and displacive, for the ordered Sm and Y compounds. On the other hand, the A-site disordered R0.5Ba0.5MnO3 samples with R cations smaller than Nd present a significant static (temperature-independent) local disorder, which explains why polar charge-localization transitions are not developed in these samples. Finally, we correlate our results about the Mn local structure and character of the transitions with the macroscopic magnetic and electric behavior of both A-site ordered and disordered compounds

Geometrical scale-factor stabilization of square cavity ring laser gyroscopes

Large frame ring laser gyros performances are ultimately limited by the instabilities of their geometrical parameters. We present the experimental activity on the GP2 ring laser gyro. GP2 is a ring laser gyro devoted to develop advanced stabilization techniques of the ring cavity geometrical scale-factor. A method based on optical interferometry has been developed for canceling the deformations of the resonator. The method is based on the measurement and stabilization of the absolute length of the cavity perimeter and of the resonators formed by the opposite cavity mirrors. The optical frequency reference in the experiment is an iodine-stabilized He-Ne laser, with a relative frequency stability of 10-11. The measurement of the absolute length of the two resonators has been demonstrated up to now on a test bench. We discuss the experimental results on GP2: the present performances as a ring laser gyro and the stabilization scheme to be implemented in the near future