[Oswald Schwarz: a pioneer in psychosomatic urology and sexual medicine]. / Oswald Schwarz : Ein Pionier der psychosomatischen Urologie und Sexualmedizin.

Oswald Schwarz, a urologist from Vienna, was a scholar of Anton Ritter von Frisch and Hans Rubritius. As a physician during World War I, he was confronted with numerous bullet wounds to the spinal cord. In 1919, he completed his professorial thesis"Bladder dysfunction as a result of bullet wounds to the spinal cord". Oswald Schwarz was known as a committed surgeon. As an urologist he also treated patients with sexual dysfunction. Besides his practical and scientific urology-related work, he was also interested in psychology and philosophy. He held lectures on both subjects earning himself the nickname, the Urosoph. In the 1920s, Oswald Schwarz belonged to the inner circle of Alfred Adler, the founder of Individual Psychology, and was editor of the first psychosomatic textbook published in German, "Psychological origin and psychotherapy of physical symptoms" (1925). In addition, Schwarz wrote numerous articles and several books on sexual medicine. He also made many valuable contributions to the development of medical anthropology. Altogether, his work includes over 130 publications. Faced with the rise of fascism and National Socialism in Europe, Oswald Schwarz, who was of Jewish origin, emigrated to England in 1934. There he died in 1949. Unfortunately his scientific work has largely been forgotten. The aim of the following article is to remind us of his important contributions to the field.

Characterization of thin polymer and biopolymer layers by ellipsometry and evanescent field technology.

The characterization of sensitive layers is the prerequisite for the optimization of chemical and biochemical sensors. The application of SE (Spectral Ellipsometry) and SPR (Surface Plasmon Resonance) as methods of characterization of such sensitive layers is discussed. In combination with infrared spectroscopy, the properties of polymer networks, micro-porous polymers, liquid crystals, and biomimetic polymers can be examined regarding their applicability for optical sensing. Apart from the basic principles regarding the characterization approaches, applications in the area of environmental sensing, optimization of hydrogel layers for antigen/antibody interaction, and discrimination of analytes in homologous series of alcohols are discussed. The effects of analytes on the phase transition in combination with disordering of liquid crystals are given.