Dark Brown Hair Research Articles

Influence of different cosmetic vehicles in mechanical and physical properties of hair treated with oxidative hair dyes

Hair care products play a significant role in the cosmetic market and aim at improving hair brightness, breakage resistance, and color change. In this study, we analyzed the possibility of the formulation of oxidative dyes in different vehicles impacting the hair’s both mechanical and physical properties. Light brown and light blond dyes were prepared using eight different vehicles. Among these, four vehicles were emulsifying agents and four gelling agents. Each formulation was applied to two types of virgin Caucasian hair (light blond and dark brown). Physical, chemical, and organoleptic properties of each formulation were assessed, as well as changes in hair parameters after oxidative dyeing, such as staining intensity, brightness, and breaking strength. The parameters of color and brightness differed in some formulations, but the hair type also responded differently. Brightness parameter was increased in dark brown hair colored with both dyes, whereas light blond hair showed the opposite result. Regarding the breaking strength, there were no significant differences between the two kinds of tresses. Cosmetic formulations should adjust the consumer desired effects (e.g. color change) in order to present minimal drawbacks (e.g. decrease of hair brightness and strength). Thus, the study of different vehicles is important when establishing the best oxidative dye formulation.

Boiardo and Ariosto in Contemporary Sicilian Puppet Theater and the Tuscan-Emilian Epic Maggio

Boiardo and Ariosto in Contemporary Sicilian Puppet Theater and the Tuscan-Emilian Epic Maggio Jo Ann Cavallo Characters from medieval and Renaissance chivalric texts have been given tangible form through the centuries not only in operatic, melodramatic, theatrical and, more recently, cinematic adaptations, but also in popular performance traditions such as Sicilian puppet theater (opera dei pupi) and the folk operas (maggi epici) of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. This essay traces the reimagining of a sampling of non-Christian characters and non-European places from Matteo Maria Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato and Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso by a number of contemporary puppet theater and maggio companies. My contention is that an examination of select scenes available online, in conjunction with a close reading of the original episodes, may help students think more deeply about perennial issues addressed in the two poems—related to gender roles, the foreign and religious Other, violence, and political power—that continue to be relevant today.1 [End Page 48] Sicilian puppet theater No art form has devoted as sustained and elaborate attention to the Orlando Innamorato and the Orlando Furioso as Sicilian puppet theater.2 Although today we are past the time when Orlando and his fellow knights relived their adventures a puntate every evening in teatrini across Sicily and beyond, we can still encounter puppeteers, especially in Palermo, Catania, and Siracusa, who regularly present episodes from the two poems. The plays may be adapted for audiences who are no longer familiar with the original stories, but the puppeteers themselves have an intimate knowledge of their sources and make meaningful choices as they adapt narratives for the stage.3 Angelica The two most popular plays performed in Sicily today are the Innamorato’s battle between Rinaldo and Orlando for Angelica and the Furioso’s madness of Orlando. Since Angelica is central to both episodes, these plays offer ample material for a comparative examination of her character in contemporary Sicilian puppet theater. Regarding Angelica’s physical features, neither Boiardo nor Ariosto exoticize her beauty and a longstanding Italian and European artistic tradition has for the most part represented her with European features and dress. Most traditional Sicilian puppeteers have followed suit—with one difference. Although both Boiardo and Ariosto refer to Angelica as a blonde, matching Italian Renaissance standards for ideal beauty, most of the Angelicas I have encountered when attending puppet plays and visiting puppet museums in Sicily since 2000 have had dark brown hair, possibly reflecting the more Mediterranean colors of Sicilian women.4 When I asked members of the traditional public to [End Page 49] describe Angelica, the reply was invariably that she was beautiful, tout court. Nor did her clothing set her apart as a foreigner. As the puppeteer Enzo Rossi explained, the traditional puppeteer’s wife simply made sure that Angelica had the most elaborate and exquisite outfit.5 One can also find exceptions to the general Europeanization of Angelica. The puppeteer Enzo Mancuso (Associazione Carlo Magno, Palermo) remembers that his uncle constructed a brown-toned Angelica, remarking: “Questa è una Angelica che mio zio ha visto sempre così, ha visto sempre mulatta perché giustamente è indiana.”6 The puppeteer Alfredo Mauceri (Compagnia dei Pupari Vaccaro-Mauceri, Siracusa) decided to render more visible Angelica’s foreign status initially by constructing an Indian Angelica—complete with a bindi, nose earring, and henna tattoo—and subsequently by dressing her in Middle Eastern garb that, as the puppeteer himself explains, “non è certo un abito tipico del Catai, ma ciò consente di distinguerla dagli abiti europei indossati dalle altre dame.”7 In addition to giving Angelica a physical form, puppeteers also develop her character through action and dialogue. The question my students have found most compelling has been whether the plays pick up on and accentuate her more dangerous and seductive connotations or whether they instead bring her more in line with traditional precepts for female conduct. Most Sicilian puppet plays I’ve been able to film tend to temper her more compromising moments, perhaps to avoid any behavior that would be considered outside accepted norms. Regarding, for example, the staging of the Innamorato’s opening scene in Charlemagne’s court, the puppeteer Salvatore Oliveri (Compagnia...

Old Girls, or, The Ordinary Adventure

Old Girls, or, The Ordinary Adventure Lauren Barbato (bio) I Babcia called them the old girls, a nickname she debuted when Viv and Tess were in elementary school. Neither of them had fathers; who needed fathers? Tess's mother, a nurse, often worked evening shifts in the ER, leaving Tess with Babcia, who'd retired from her desk job at the post office and had cared for Viv since her mother passed. Viv and Tess would ride the bus along Bloomfield Avenue with Babcia for her weekly errands. Babcia often found the old girls perched on the red metal bench outside ShopRite, sharing peppermint patties with residents from the local senior-citizen complex. At night, Babcia would pull back the woolly throw obscuring the entrance to their blanket fort, where the old girls lay on their bellies, chins resting on velvet pillow shams, cutting and pasting images from beauty and travel magazines to create their own reality in purple composition notebooks. The old girls liked to discuss their futures of living alone in foreign cities, marrying out of love, not obligation. They idolized artists over pop stars, preferred foreign films to teen movies. Tess, they always said, had the good sense; Viv had the gift. The old girls spent the first three weeks of their summer before college in short shorts and crop tops at the diner counter on Bloomfield Avenue, eyeing Irish fries and rocky road milkshakes while the men eyed them. They didn't mind; really, the old girls liked it. It'd become their new game, timing how long it took the men to slither over and make small talk about the milkshakes, the heat, the '80s movies playing on the little TV in the corner. It beat lying out on the Bloomfield Green and seeing how much Sun In and lemon juice Viv needed to [End Page 206] pour onto Tess's black hair before it rusted. Sometimes, they got free chicken fingers and fries out of these men or, if they waited long enough, a six-pack of Yuengling. Consider the man today: His dark brown hair, swept coolly over the growing lines of his forehead, still held its youthful wave. His biceps, on full display in his black tank top, were strong and freckled. Tess's good sense pegged him as 30, at least. Viv asked the man his name (Matt, short for Matthew Joseph, reluctantly Catholic); she giggled when he flexed his left arm, stretching the ink of his block-lettered USMC tattoo; she pressed the side of her bare thigh against his green cargo shorts. When he flashed his driver's license, Viv saw he was twenty-nine, born in 1974, September, a Virgo. Tess whispered, "I told you so," from behind her sheet of silky straight black hair. Once he excused himself to the bathroom, the waitress behind the counter fluttered her blue eyelashes and said what she always said when someone else paid their check: You girls, don't enjoy yourselves too much. They rolled up to the local bodega for loosies, which they smoked in the parking lot below Bloomfield station. Matt was outspoken and energetic and somewhat charming in his unapologetic curiosity. He asked Viv about her grandmother, and wondered how Tess could possess a Spanish last name if she was Filipina. He teased Tess about her Stanford ambitions but wanted to know more about her upcoming California makeover. ("Viv's gonna bleach it blonde before I go," Tess told him. "I'm good at that," Viv added.) When Matt said he'd always wanted to write a book, Tess began lecturing him on the gender politics of 19th-century literature and Viv groaned, No one wants to hear that shit. In Watsessing Park, they sipped PBRs masked by paper bags and Viv performed a childhood tap routine on a picnic table. Matt hurdled onto the table and spun her around by the waist. They slipped into an endearing offbeat two-step, Viv's blonde hair, even paler now in the summer, rippling to her waist. Tess clapped along and finished his PBR. [End Page 207] Later, when curfew neared, Tess waited outside his gold Jeep Cherokee...

Poe in Richmond: Poe's Tell-Tale Hair at the Poe Museum

Poe in Richmond: Poe's Tell-Tale Hair at the Poe Museum

Anatomical Study of Male Reproductive Organs of the Indonesian Short-Nosed Fruit Bat (Cynopterus titthaecheilus Temminck, 1825)

Bats are one of the mammals of Chiroptera order. Chiroptera Order has two sub-orders, Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera. One of the species of Megachiroptera is <em>Cynopterus titthaecheilus</em> (<em>C. titthaecheilus</em>). Local name for <em>C. titthaecheilus</em> is the Indonesian short-nosed fruit <em>bat</em>. Characteristics of <em>C. titthaecheilus</em> are dark brown body hair and no tragus in the ear. Population of <em>C. titthaecheilus</em> in Indonesia are relatively abundant, but research about anatomy of male reproduction organs of this species is still rare. The purpose of this study was to determine the anatomical features of male <em>C. tittahecheilus</em> reproductive organs. Observations of macroscopic anatomy include observation of morphology, size, weight and volume of penis, testiscle, epididymis, vas defferens, prostate and seminal vesicles. Observation on microscopical anatomy of male reproduction organ is using histological slide preparations stained by <em>Hematoxylin-Eosin</em>.

Multidisciplinary Identification of the Controversial Freedom Fighter Jörg Jenatsch, Assassinated 1639 in Chur, Switzerland.

Jörg Jenatsch, a leading freedom fighter during the Thirty Year’s War in Graubünden, Switzerland, was assassinated on carnival 1639. Jenatsch’s controversial biography and the unclear circumstances of his death inspired the formation of various legends, novels and films. In 1959, a skeleton discovered in the cathedral of Chur with remains of wealthy baroque clothing was tentatively attributed to Jenatsch. Here, we reassess the skeleton based on a new exhumation. Our multidisciplinary analysis and the head injuries are consistent with reports of the eyewitnesses of the crime, demonstrating that Jenatsch was killed from behind with a semi-sharp implement, supposedly an axe, as well as by a blow with a broad-surfaced object. Moreover, our facial reconstruction closely matches an oil portrait of Jenatsch, and the HIrisPlex system applied to DNA-extracts from the femoral bone reveals brown eye and dark brown hair colour, which coincides well with the portrait, too. Finally, isotope analysis of the femoral bone and a molar support Jenatsch’s high social status, luxury diet and a high mobility in the last decade of his life. This multidisciplinary approach thus reinforces personal identification and provides additional insight into the life of this important historic person beyond written resources.

The diversity of the human hair colour assessed by visual scales and instrumental measurements. A worldwide survey.

To study (i) the diversity of the natural colour of the human hair through both visual assessment of hair tone levels and colorimetric measurements of hair strands collected from 2057 human male and female volunteers, from 23 regions of the world and (ii) the correlation between visual assessments and colorimetric measurements. Hair strands were analysed by a spectrocolorimeter under the L*, a*, b* referential system and scored in vivo by experts before sampling, through standardized visual reference scales based on a 1-10 range. Results show that from a typological aspect, black or dark brown hairs largely predominate among studied ethnic groups, whereas Caucasian or derived populations exhibit the widest palette of medium to fair shades, partly explaining some past interbreeding among populations. Instrumental measurements clearly confirm that a given colour of a pigmented hair, at the exclusion of red hairs, is mostly governed by two components, L* and b*, from the L*, a*, b* reference system. The comparisons between visual assessments and instrumental data show that these appear closely linked. Darker hairs show close or subtle variations in L*, a*, b* parameters, making their individual colour differentiation calling for technical improvements in colorimetric measurements. The latter are likely governed by other physical factors such as shape, diameter and shine.

Morphological degradation of human hair cuticle due to simulated sunlight irradiation and washing

Morphological changes in hair surface are undesirable, since they cause shine loss, roughness increase and split ends. These effects occur more frequently in the cuticle, which is the outermost layer of the hair strand, and thus the most exposed to the environmental damages. Sunlight irradiation contributes significantly to these morphological alterations, which motivates the investigation of this effect on hair degradation. In this work, the influence of irradiation and hand-washing steps on the morphology of pigmented and non-pigmented hair cuticle was investigated using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). To simulate daily conditions, where hair is hand-washed and light exposed, samples of dark brown and gray hair underwent three different conditions: 1) irradiation with a mercury lamp for up to 600h; 2) irradiation with the mercury lamp combined with washes with a sodium lauryl sulphate solution; and 3) only washing. A new preparation procedure was applied for TEM samples to minimize natural variations among different hair strands: a single hair strand was cut into two neighbouring halves and only one of them underwent irradiation and washing. The non-exposed half was used as a control, so that the real effects caused by the controlled irradiation and washing procedures could be highlighted in samples that had very similar morphologies initially. More than 25images/sample were analysed using FESEM (total of 300 images) and ca. 150images/sample were obtained with TEM (total of 900 images). The results presented herein show that the endocuticle and the cell membrane complex (CMC) are the cuticle structures more degraded by irradiation. Photodegradation alone results in fracturing, cavities (Ø≈20–200nm) and cuticle cell lifting, while the washing steps were able to remove cuticle cells (≈1–2 cells removed after 60 washes). Finally, the combined action of irradiation and washing caused the most severe damages, resulting in a more pronounced cuticle extraction (≈1–4 cuticle cells after a 600h irradiation and a 60 times washing). This irradiation dose corresponds to ca. 2months of sunlight exposure (considering 5h/day) in Campinas-SP, Brazil, during the day period of maximum irradiation intensity. The combined action of irradiation and washing can be explained by the creation of fragile photodegraded spots in the endocuticle and in the CMC, where the mechanical stress associated to the washing steps are more prone to induce rupture.

Optical coherence tomography to evaluate the effects of oxidative hair dye on the fiber.

Oxidative hair dyes can damage the hair, since these chemical procedures are involved to change the fiber structure and therefore changes in their mechanical and surface properties. Evaluate and compare the effect of the two colors of oxidative hair dye emulsions on Caucasian hair. This research analyzed the Dark brown hair untreated (I); Dark brown hair treated with light brown dye (II); Dark brown hair treated with light blond dye (III); Light blond hair untreated (IV); Light blond hair treated with light brown dye (V); Light blond hair treated with light blond dye (VI) on Caucasian hair. The hair samples were submitted to breaking strength, color, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) analysis. For the breaking strength assay no presented statistically significant differences between treatments. The parameters of color and brightness can differ in some hair dye formulations, but also the hair type can respond differently. The OCT images of the sample I and IV was possible observed, clearly Medulla and Cortex, which was not observed clearly after treatment with both oxidative hair dye colors. Based on the results, the oxidative hair dyes increased alteration in color and ultrastructure of hair.

Dear Kelly Bloom

Dear Kelly Bloom Christine Sneed (bio) Before the end of his second month at the Gazette, Connor was told that he wore his misery too openly. “You need to hide it better,” said Sandra Cramer, the staff writer who did most of the movie, concert, and theater reviews and was also the paper’s primary fact-checker, “Or else, like Woody Allen, learn to make a joke out of it.” She smiled, her bicuspids longer than her incisors. He guessed that she was in her early fifties, about the same age as his mother, but Sandra was thinner and funnier and harsher than his exhausted mother was. Sandra wore her dark brown hair piled on the crown of her head and favored black eyeliner, along with dramatic scarlet lipstick which by noon she had usually chewed down to a residual ring. She spent large swaths of most afternoons striding around the newsroom, her colorless lips pursed or silently moving as she worked out copy in her head. “I wish I could be like Woody Allen,” said Connor. “But I don’t think I’ve come up with one original joke in my life.” She stared at him, hovering over his cubicle. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. Had he made some awful rookie error, as his overworked predecessor had once done, typing President Osama instead of Obama on one of the letters he’d prepared for his boss, Preston Dryden III? “How good are you at giving advice?” Sandra finally asked. “I’m not sure,” he said, wondering who on the other side of his cubicle’s walls was paying attention to their conversation. From what he could tell, everyone at the paper eavesdropped; with more cubicles by far than offices with doors, it was hard not to. “Probably not very good. Look where I ended up.” He tried to laugh, but the sound stayed in his throat. She leaned her small, trim body against his cubicle’s outer wall. It shuddered briefly, Connor’s calendar of the city skyline and the giraffe photo an ex-girlfriend had given him swaying on their pushpins. A fluorescent light flickered dispiritingly above his and Sandra’s heads. The newsroom bulbs often seemed on the verge of dying; a man in maintenance grays, clipboard in one hand, showed up from time to time to glower up at the offending bulb before leaving again without replacing it. [End Page 527] “I’m sure you’re as good as anyone else in this dump,” she said. “I want you to answer these questions and e-mail them back to me by six today.” She handed him a torn half-sheet of copier paper with three barely legible lines scrawled in blue ballpoint. “All right,” said Connor. “I’ll see what I can do.” “I think you’re the one, so don’t disappoint me,” she said. She gave him a look more comical than fierce before going back to her desk, which was inside an office that included a door, one with a lock, and no window for the inquisitive to peer through. Preston Dryden III and Sandra were rumored to be having an affair, but whether or not this was true, Connor didn’t care. He wanted only to report to work every day, do a capable job, and avoid conflict. During his first month at the Gazette, he had missed the quiet of the library where he worked during his last year of college, the orderly rows of the books he’d shelved, the hours spent alone in the carrel he favored on the library’s poorly heated top floor, his little steel-frame chair and pen-gouged table situated under a humming, dust-spewing vent. There he had leaned drowsily over his notes and dog-eared textbooks, trudging his way toward respectability. The questions Sandra sent weren’t as challenging as he’d expected but he also wasn’t sure if he knew how to answer them properly: 1). What would you do if you caught your best friend stealing from your wallet? 2). What if you stumbled across your married mother out with another man? 3). What should...

What Else Does Your Biometric Data Reveal? A Survey on Soft Biometrics

Recent research has explored the possibility of extracting ancillary information from primary biometric traits viz., face, fingerprints, hand geometry, and iris. This ancillary information includes personal attributes, such as gender, age, ethnicity, hair color, height, weight, and so on. Such attributes are known as soft biometrics and have applications in surveillance and indexing biometric databases. These attributes can be used in a fusion framework to improve the matching accuracy of a primary biometric system (e.g., fusing face with gender information), or can be used to generate qualitative descriptions of an individual (e.g., young Asian female with dark eyes and brown hair). The latter is particularly useful in bridging the semantic gap between human and machine descriptions of the biometric data. In this paper, we provide an overview of soft biometrics and discuss some of the techniques that have been proposed to extract them from the image and the video data. We also introduce a taxonomy for organizing and classifying soft biometric attributes, and enumerate the strengths and limitations of these attributes in the context of an operational biometric system. Finally, we discuss open research problems in this field. This survey is intended for researchers and practitioners in the field of biometrics.

Effect of photodamage on the outermost cuticle layer of human hair

The surface of the hair is the region most exposed to solar radiation and to the environment in general. Many of the well-known damaging effects of sun exposure on hair must start or even be restricted to the most external cuticle layers. As such, this work investigates morphological, ultrastructural and chemical changes in the outermost cuticle layer of dark brown hair, using atomic force microscopy (AFM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The results showed that after 230h of irradiation with a mercury lamp, small bumps with globular shape (heights lying in the 1–5nm range) appeared on the cuticle surface and their size increased with increasing irradiation times. In addition, the enlargement of pre-existing holes was also observed (holes increase around 350% in depth) and the height of the steps formed between the edges of two cuticle scales increased around 65%, as a result of 500h of irradiation. The damages in hair strands were accurately identified by analyzing exactly the same surface region before and after irradiation by AFM images. Finally, the results were discussed in terms of the chemical differences between the non-irradiated and the irradiated hair, for instance, the increased level of cystine oxidation as a consequence of photodegradation.

Teaching Trans for Children, Youth, and Adults Who Care for Them

Teaching Trans for Children, Youth, and Adults Who Care for Them

Protein loss in human hair from combination straightening and coloring treatments.

Hair chemical treatments, such as dyeing and straightening products, are known to cause damage that can be assessed by protein loss. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hair protein loss caused by combined chemical treatments (dye and relaxer) using the validated bicinchoninic acid (BCA) method. Three kinds of straighteners, based on ammonium thioglycolate, guanidine hydroxide and sodium hydroxide, were evaluated and the least harmful combination indicated. Caucasian virgin dark brown hair tresses were treated with developed natural brown color oxidative hair dyeing and/or straightening commercial products based on ammonium thioglycolate, sodium hydroxide, or guanidine hydroxide. Protein loss quantification was assessed by the validated BCA method which has several advantages for quantifying protein loss in chemically treated hair. When both treatments (straightening and dyeing) were combined, a higher negative effect was observed, particularly for dyed hair treated with sodium hydroxide. In this case, a 356% increase in protein loss relative to virgin hair was observed and 208% in relation to only dyed hair. The combination of dying and relaxers based on ammonium thioglycolate or guanidine hydroxide caused a small increase in protein loss, suggesting that these straightening products could be the best alternatives for individuals wishing to combine both treatments. These results indicated that when application of both types of products is desired, ammonium thioglycolate or guanidine hydroxide should be chosen for the straightening process.

A new species of Simulium (Gomphostilbia) (Diptera: Simuliidae) from Malaysia, with keys to 32 species of the Simulium ceylonicum species-group.

Simulium (Gomphostilbia) leparense sp. nov. is described from females, males, and pupae collected from Peninsular Malaysia. This new species is assigned to the ceylonicum species-group of the subgenus Gomphostilbia, and is characterized by the female and male scuta covered with dark-brown short hairs, smaller number of male upper-eye facets, presence of shiny paired spots on the male abdominal segments 2-8, and absence of grapnel-shaped hooklets on the pupal abdominal segment 9. The male and pupa of S. capillatum Takaoka, which was originally described from larvae collected from Sarawak and Sabah, are described for the first time. Keys to identify all 32 species of the Simulium ceylonicum species-group including 27 species from other countries are provided for females, males, pupae, and mature larvae.

Karen Finley's “The Jackie Look”

Finley's Jackie LookIn Finley's latest solo piece, Jackie Look, performed at the Laurie Beechman Theater in New York City from January through March 2010, the woman once described in the Village Voice as raw quaking id taking the stage was wearing a crisp, tailored pantsuit, pearls, her dark brown hair styled in an homage to the former First Lady, her delivery more reminiscent of her subject's breathy whisper than the searing rant for which Finley is best known. The press release describes the show as present day lecture given by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis at a Dallas photography school. But Finley moved between various styles of delivery ranging from academic lecture referencing psychoanalytic theories of the gaze to personal confession and political satire, shifting from a deliberately imprecise performance of Onassis to an array of Finleys; she changed eyewear, taking offthe sunglasses and donning the reading glasses a fifty-something performer requires. The gesture didn't seem to be rehearsed, a signal that Now I'm Karen or Now I'm Jackie; it seemed to suggest a blurry line between the character performed and the various selves doing the performance.Finley is not interested in mere impersonation or even much in biographical details, though during the seventy-minute lecture projections repeat familiar photos and video clips. assumes we know plenty about Onassis already. wore the costume loosely; we could see it slip and slide off; we could see the gaps between the performance and performer. was less like Meryl Streep or even Anna Deavere Smith, immersing herself in another to the point of disappearance, than a drag queen who chooses to let you see the male body inside the gestures of femininity, who reminds you that this is a performance, not the real thing. Whatever that is. The congruencies, the gaps, seeing the man behind the curtains: that's the whole point of it.Finley assumed a familiarity with her notoriety as one of the artists targeted by the religious right during the culture wars of the nineties. The audience laughed when she made her entrance in white pants and gold-buttoned navy blazer because many of Finley's best known works involve nudity and use of her body as a kind of canvas. Finley has referenced other female celebrities in the past. In Make Love, staged in downtown Manhattan's Fez Club, Finley invited a large and shifting cast of performers to join her onstage in their interpretations of Liza Minnelli; references to 9/11 were mixed with show tunes and stories about Minnelli, who emerged as a symbol of New York City, the talented but self-destructive trouper who never gives up. Martha Stewart has made appearances in both Finley's solo performances and plays; she's a symbol of consumptive greed, of the suffocating trap of traditional female roles.Onassis, the embodiment of glamour, of good taste, of grace under fire, would seem to be the polar opposite of Finley, a prolific artist who's authored several books, exhibited paintings, cut records, and written plays and who is best known for solo performances that feel deliberately unpolished and often provocative. The scripts, a mash up of rant and incantation, laced with poetry, profanity, and politics, are delivered raw; they are meant to jar, disturb, discomfit. Her performance is a clear heir to that of the beat poets but also to that of tent revivalists and street-corner conspiracy theorists, aimed to burn through the comfort of rehearsed virtuosity most actors aim for with a more shamanistic, less-domesticated presence. Former Village Voice critic C. Carr chronicled Finley in her column On Edge: She might say or do anything. . . . Onstage Finley represents a frightening and rare presence: an unsocialized woman. Writing in 1990, after Finley and three other performance artists (including myself ) had been stripped of National Endowment for the Arts funding, Carr defended Finley's use of profane language: Obscenity is Finley's subject-not four-letter words but the emotion propelling them. …

Alysicarpus sanjappae (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae), a new species from the Western Ghats of India

Alysicarpus sanjappae, a new species (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae) from the Western Ghats of India, is described and illustrated. It resembles A. heyneanus Wight & Arn., but differs in having a prostrate habit, stems and branches strigose with a line of distant hairs, leaves usually 1-foliolate mixed with 3-foliolate, stipules and stipels distinctly ciliate only at the tip, secondary bracts, a glabrous pedicel, dark brown hairs present only on the margins at the tip of all sepals, a yellow corolla tinged with red, and rugose pods, as long as or slightly longer than the sepals.

The assessment of cortisol in human hair: Associations with sociodemographic variables and potential confounders

To inform the future use of hair cortisol measurement, we have investigated influences of potential confounding variables (natural hair colour, frequency of hair washes, age, sex, oral contraceptive (OC) use and smoking status) on hair cortisol levels. The main study sample comprised 360 participants (172 women) covering a wide range of ages (1–91 years; mean = 25.95). In addition, to more closely examine influences of natural hair colour and young age on hair cortisol levels, two additional samples comprising 69 participants with natural blond or dark brown hair (hair colour sample) as well as 28 young children and 34 adults (young age sample) were recruited. Results revealed a lack of an effect for natural hair colour, OC use, and smoking status on hair cortisol levels (all p's >0.10). No influence of frequency of hair washes was seen for proximal hair segments (p = 0.335) but for the third hair segment indicating lower cortisol content (p = 0.008). We found elevated hair cortisol levels in young children and older adults (p < 0.001). Finally, men showed higher hair cortisol levels than women (p = 0.002). The present data indicate that hair cortisol measurement provides a useful tool in stress-related psychobiological research when applied with the consideration of possible confounders including age and sex.

A Study on Image Perception according to Wedding Headdress, Hairstyle, and Neckline

Abstract The objectives of this study were to analyze the design elements of hairstyles, wedding headdresses, and necklines in wedding magazine pictures by using content analysis method and to investigate the differences in image perception according to hairstyle, wedding headdress, and neckline. A quasi-experimental method by questionnaire was used. The experimental design was a 2×5×4(hairstyles×wedding headdresses×necklines) factorial design by 3 independent variables. The subjects consisted of 378 female college students. The results are as follow. First, the most popular among hairstyles, headdresses, and neckline forms were the updo hairstyle, dark brown hair color, the crown headdress, white flowers, and the horizontal bared top. Second, the elements determined to be most elegant and attractive were the medium-up hairstyle and the crown with a veil. However the wedding hat was perceived to be high in individuality and tenderness, while the flower and the wedding hat were perceived to be very pretty. The halter neckline was perceived to be higher in individuality and attractiveness than the other neckline types. Third, the medium-up hairstyle when wearing a crown with veil was perceived to be the most elegant. Placing a flower in the long-wave hairstyle was evaluated as looking most pretty. Fourth, the medium-up hairstyle was higher in preference than the long-wave style. Among wedding headdresses, there was greatest preference for a crown. Key words: image perception(이미지 지각), wedding headdresses(웨딩헤드드레스), hairstyle(헤어스타일), neckline (네크라인).

Specific Melanin Content in Human Hairs and Mitochondrial DNA Typing Success

This study investigated whether a difference exists in the ability to obtain quality mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data from hair shafts due to specific melanin content differences. Eumelanin, the pigment in darker hairs, protects nuclear DNA in the skin by absorbing and scattering UV radiation. In contrast, sensitized pheomelanin, the predominate melanin in red hairs and some blond hairs, is unable to prevent DNA damage in skin upon exposure to UV radiation. It has been reported in the literature that darker hairs (predominate eumelanin content) have a higher mtDNA sequencing success rate than lighter colored hairs. However, others have reported to the contrary when different methodologies are used. In this study, 2-cm hair fragments were cut from dark brown, red, and gray white hairs and typed using standard casework mtDNA sequence analysis methods. All 30 hair fragments produced quality mtDNA sequence data on first attempt from the second half of hypervariable region 1. These results are likely due to the apparent shielding of mtDNA by the hard protein of the hair shaft fiber from radiation-induced damage, regardless of melanin type, after 10-months minimal solar exposure. Nonetheless, this study may serve as a guide for future quantitative studies that investigate hair mtDNA photodamage in circumstances of increased solar, chemical, environmental, or mechanical damage.