ON THE LOGIC, METHOD AND SCIENTIFIC DIVERSITY OF TECHNICAL SYSTEMS: AN INQUIRY INTO THE DIAGNOSTIC MEASUREMENT OF HUMAN SKIN

This dissertation explores some of the scientific, technical and cultural history of human skin measurement and diagnostics. Through a significant collection of primary texts and case studies, I track the changing technologies and methods used to measure skin, as well as the scientific and sociotechnical applications. I then map these histories onto some of the diverse understandings of the human body, physics, biology, natural philosophy and language that underpinned the scientific enterprise of skin measurement. The main argument of my thesis demonstrates how these diverse histories of science historically and theoretically inform the succeeding methods and applications for skin measurement from early Greek medicine, to beginnings of Anthropology as scientific discipline, to the emergence of scientific racism, to the age of digital imaging analysis, remote sensing, algorithms, massive databases and biometric technologies; further, these new digital applications go beyond just health diagnostics and are creating new technical categorizations of human skin divorced from the established ethical mechanisms of modern science. Based on this research, I inquire how communication practices within the scientific enterprise address the ethical and historical implications for a growing set of digital biometric applications with industrial, military, sociopolitical and public functions

Textbook on Scar Management

This text book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. Written by a group of international experts in the field and the result of over ten years of collaboration, it allows students and readers to gain to gain a detailed understanding of scar and wound treatment – a topic still dispersed among various disciplines. The content is divided into three parts for easy reference. The first part focuses on the fundamentals of scar management, including assessment and evaluation procedures, classification, tools for accurate measurement of all scar-related elements (volume density, color, vascularization), descriptions of the different evaluation scales. It also features chapters on the best practices in electronic-file storage for clinical reevaluation and telemedicine procedures for safe remote evaluation. The second section offers a comprehensive review of treatment and evidence-based technologies, presenting a consensus of the various available guidelines (silicone, surgery, chemical injections, mechanical tools for scar stabilization, lasers). The third part evaluates the full range of emerging technologies offered to physicians as alternative or complementary solutions for wound healing (mechanical, chemical, anti-proliferation). Textbook on Scar Management will appeal to trainees, fellows, residents and physicians dealing with scar management in plastic surgery, dermatology, surgery and oncology, as well as to nurses and general practitioners ; Comprehensive reference covering the complete field of wounds and scar management: semiology, classifications and scoring Highly educational contents for trainees as well as professionals in plastic surgery, dermatology, surgery, oncology as well as nurses and general practitioners Fast access to information through key points, take home messages, highlights, and a wealth of clinical cases Book didactic contents enhanced by supplementary material and video

Textbook on Scar Management

This text book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. Written by a group of international experts in the field and the result of over ten years of collaboration, it allows students and readers to gain to gain a detailed understanding of scar and wound treatment – a topic still dispersed among various disciplines. The content is divided into three parts for easy reference. The first part focuses on the fundamentals of scar management, including assessment and evaluation procedures, classification, tools for accurate measurement of all scar-related elements (volume density, color, vascularization), descriptions of the different evaluation scales. It also features chapters on the best practices in electronic-file storage for clinical reevaluation and telemedicine procedures for safe remote evaluation. The second section offers a comprehensive review of treatment and evidence-based technologies, presenting a consensus of the various available guidelines (silicone, surgery, chemical injections, mechanical tools for scar stabilization, lasers). The third part evaluates the full range of emerging technologies offered to physicians as alternative or complementary solutions for wound healing (mechanical, chemical, anti-proliferation). Textbook on Scar Management will appeal to trainees, fellows, residents and physicians dealing with scar management in plastic surgery, dermatology, surgery and oncology, as well as to nurses and general practitioners ; Comprehensive reference covering the complete field of wounds and scar management: semiology, classifications and scoring Highly educational contents for trainees as well as professionals in plastic surgery, dermatology, surgery, oncology as well as nurses and general practitioners Fast access to information through key points, take home messages, highlights, and a wealth of clinical cases Book didactic contents enhanced by supplementary material and video

Microscopy and Analysis

Microscopes represent tools of the utmost importance for a wide range of disciplines. Without them, it would have been impossible to stand where we stand today in terms of understanding the structure and functions of organelles and cells, tissue composition and metabolism, or the causes behind various pathologies and their progression. Our knowledge on basic and advanced materials is also intimately intertwined to the realm of microscopy, and progress in key fields of micro- and nanotechnologies critically depends on high-resolution imaging systems. This volume includes a series of chapters that address highly significant scientific subjects from diverse areas of microscopy and analysis. Authoritative voices in their fields present in this volume their work or review recent trends, concepts, and applications, in a manner that is accessible to a broad readership audience from both within and outside their specialist area

Genetic History of Latin America: Fine-scale population structure, sub-continental ancestry and phenotypic diversity

The history of Latin America involved extensive genetic admixture, particularly between Native Americans, Europeans and Africans. Although these conti-nental contributions to the genetic make-up of the region have been explored previously with genetic data, more precise information about sub-continental contributions has proven elusive. Applying new haplotype-based approaches to ~600,000 SNPs in ~7,000 Latin Americans from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, this PhD thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the sub-continental ancestry and demographic history of Latin America at a resolu-tion not previously achieved. Furthermore, using measurements on sampled individuals' physical appearances, I explore the impact of this fine-scale genet-ic structure on phenotypic variation across Latin America. To achieve these aims, I use a novel haplotype-based statistical technique that I compare to previously published haplotype-based and allele-frequency-based methods, using real data and simulations mimicking Latin American admixture. I show that this new approach provides a substantial increase in accuracy, al-lowing more precise inference about ancestral components at both regional and individual levels. Strikingly, Native American ancestry across Latin Ameri-ca mirrors the geographic locations of present-day Native groups. Furthermore, non-Native ancestries match to precise areas within the Iberian Peninsula and elsewhere, consistent with historical records detailing migrations and highlight-ing previously unseen ancestry sources. For the first time in single-sampled individuals, I date the timings of these non-Native Post-Columbian genetic contributions, including newly identified recent contributions related to East Asia. Finally, I show how this sub-continental ancestral reconstruction corre-lates with variation in pigmentation and facial features in Latin Americans, un-earthing new associations that could not be found with available techniques. Overall, I demonstrate how increasing the robustness and accuracy of fine-scale genetic structure analysis allows a comprehensive picture of the histori-cal and biological diversity of Latin America, highlighting the impact of regional genetic variation on human phenotypic diversity

Laser doppler perfusion imaging of the normal and diseased vulva.

Vulval lichen sclerosus (LS) and high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN 3) are two common and distressing diseases. Significant morbidity is caused by symptoms of persistent pruritus and surgical treatment of skin areas suspicious of malignancy. The risk of developing cancer in a background of LS and VIN 3 is poorly defined. The methods currently available for clinical assessment of the vulva are limited. There is abundant research on the application of the LASER Doppler technique - laser Doppler Flowmetry (LDF) - showing changes in perfusion within the small blood vessels of the skin as a useful parameter for more accurate disease classification. There is also research on immunohistochemical microvessel density (MVD) studies showing increases in blood supply in tissues prone to develop cancer or as a prognostic marker of cancer outcome. The Laser Doppler perfusion imager (LDPI) provides a rapid, real time, non-invasive and non-contact method to measure skin blood flow in an area as opposed to a single point by the LDF, making the LDPI more suitable for application to the vulva. This thesis reports for the first time, the application of the LDPI to the vulva. Initially the LDPI was applied to the clinically normal vulva to study perfusion variance related to menstrual cycle, age and local skin temperature provocation. The application was then extended to vulval disease, LS and VIN 3, and validated against morphological differences in MVD. The LDPI and MVD studies suggest that in VIN 3 there is an actual increase in skin perfusion. In LS the situation is more complex and suggests that the LDPI measured perfusion at a greater depth than the MVD. Studies on base line perfusion variance of vulval LS to topical therapy show that there is no overall difference in baseline perfusion in spite of symptom improvement. Temperature provocation studies suggest differences in skin blood flow response in diseased compared to the normal vulva

Persönlichkeitstransfer von Menschen auf Marken: Psychologische und Neurale Mechanismen.

A human face reveals a wide range of information to the observer. It can tell about the mood, and intention, but it can also serve as a cue for the characterization of a person. In order describe a person there are other means apart from the face which include voice, body shape, clothing style. Nevertheless, a face is the most distinctive and widely used key to a person’s identity. People judge others by spontaneously inferring personality traits from faces. Judging others’ faces is essential not only in people’s daily lives and social interactions, but also when they are exposed to any type of advertisement. Print, TV, or online advertisements usually display endorsers promoting the brands that have to be appropriately selected. Consumers, then, often form personality impressions about a brand based on endorser characteristics such as faces. Integrating Gestalt psychology, face perception, and endorsement with perceptual priming theories, five studies examine how endorser faces impact brand impressions. The results from the conducted five studies provide convergent validity regarding the unique relationship between human faces and personality trait inferences from endorsed brands. This dissertation shows that (1) holistic types of faces emerge from combinations of anatomical facial features; (2) holistic face types reliably and differentially convey a strategically valuable set of personality trait impressions; (3) personality inferences are boosted by matching faces in joint presentation (assimilation boost effect), and (4) by mismatching faces in sequential presentation (contrast boost effect); while both boost effects are largely independent from face attractiveness and self-similarity, the assimilation boost effect is moderated by emotional attachment to a brand; and (5) the assimilation boost effect, not the contrast boost effect, is associated with a brain region that emotionally triggers brand choice.Werbetreibende sind für die adäquate Inszenierung ihrer Marken permanent auf der Suche nach neuen Gesichtern, sei es für Print-, TV- oder für Online-Anzeigen. Neuerdings suchen Unternehmen immer wieder „das Gesicht“ für ihre Kampagne und starten hierfür einen öffentlichen Aufruf (z.B. Audi und Beiersdorf). Um Verbrauchern die angestrebte Markenpersönlichkeit zu vermitteln, spielt die Auswahl geeigneter Gesichter für die Kommunikationskampagnen eine essenzielle Rolle. Das Gesicht soll der Marke buchstäblich „ein Gesicht geben“, d.h. durch Image- und Persönlichkeitstranfereffekte wird die Marke emotional gestärkt und somit die Glaubwürdigkeit der Werbebotschaft erhöht. Bisherige Forschungen zeigen, dass, wenn Marke und Gesicht zueinander passen, führt dies bei Verbrauchern zu einer positiven Markenwahrnehmung, besseren Markenerinnerung und letztendlich zur Markenbindung. Daher ist die Herausforderung eines jeden Markenmanagers das Gesicht zu finden, welches die Markenphilosophie und die Markenpersönlichkeit optimal widerspiegelt. Diese Aufgabe wurde im Rahmen dieser Dissertation in fünf aufeinander aufbauenden Studien mit unterschiedlichen Methoden näher untersucht. Die Ergebnisse der Studien ermittelten (1) ganzheitliche oder sogenannte holistische Gesichtertypen, die anhand einer Kombination von Gesichterfaktoren (bestehend aus Merkmalen) beschrieben wurden, (2) systematische Zusammenhänge zwischen den holistischen Gesichtertypen und Persönlichkeitseigenschaften, (3) eine gestärkte Markenwahrnehmung, wenn passende Gesichter gleichzeitig mit Marken präsentiert werden (Assimilation Boost-Effekt), (4) eine gestärkte Markenwahrnehmung, wenn unpassende Gesichter mit Marken nacheinander präsentiert werden (Kontrast Boost-Effekt), (5) dass die Boost-Effekte größtenteils unabhängig von Attraktivität und Selbstähnlichkeit sind, während der Assimilation Boost-Effekt durch die emotionale Markenbindung moderiert wird und (6) dass der Assimilation Boost-Effekt jene Gehirnregionen aktiviert, die Emotionen verarbeiten und letztendlich zur Markenwahl führt

Saving Bones: a direct comparison of FTIR-ATR, whole bone percent nitrogen, and NIR

89th Annual Meeting of the American-Association-of-Physical-Anthropologists (AAPA), Los Angeles, CA, APR 15-18, 202