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At the beginning of the 20th century, the eclectic artist Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo patented two innovative methods for polychrome printing on fabrics and textiles, giving life to Fortuny fabric production in Venice. The first patent was related to colour application, while the second to a special machine that allows continuous printing using cylindrical rollers. Despite the descriptions, the methodology and materials used remain a secret. In collaboration with the Fortuny Museum in Venice, this research aimed at studying and identifying the different steps of Fortuny printing methodologies. Printing matrices, fabrics and raw materials found in the artist's studio were analysed in a multi-analytical campaign through digital microscopy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR), μ-Raman spectroscopy and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Three main pigments were identified in paper samples: ivory black, a copper-based pigment, and a carbon black pigment with ultramarine for blues. The pigments were bound with linseed oil and colophony in varying proportions. Polychrome silk fabrics were dyed with a base colour, and then the coloured patterns were superimposed by continuous printing. Prussian blue was identified as one of the textile inks. Results provided a better understanding of printing methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A tree which has exactly one vertex of degree greater than two is said to be starlike. In spite of seemingly simple structure of these trees, not much is known about their spectral properties. In this paper, we introduce a generalization of the notion of cospectrality called -cospectrality which turns out to be useful in constructing cospectral graphs. Based on this, we construct cospectral mates for some starlike trees. We also present a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for divisibility of the characteristic polynomial of a starlike tree by the characteristic polynomial of a path. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Measurement of short-term and long-term deflections is a necessary step towards understanding and evaluating the status of a bridge. In this paper, a novel non-contact weighted-stretched-wire (NCWSW) system is developed for measuring the deflection of a bridge. Also some factors related to the system are addressed. The proposed system is promising due to some attractive features such as high precision, low implementation cost and suitability for continuous monitoring. The efficiency and reliability of NCWSW system are investigated both analytically and experimentally. A realistic NCWSW system has been used in the monitoring of a real-world bridge. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: An RNA secondary structure is considered to be planar if its arc graph can be embedded into a plane without edge crossing. In this paper, a graphical criterion of planarity is presented based on graphical composition for RNA secondary structures with pseudoknots in Rivas–Eddy Class. Effective planar testing algorithms are introduced based on our graphical criterion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to describe a simple dynamic crack propagation experiment which reproduces two phenomena: mixed-mode propagation and crack stop and restart. This experiment is explained and interpreted using X-FEM simulations. We show that a simple fracture theory which consists in using a dynamic crack initiation toughness, a crack orientation along the maximum principal stress and a simple equation for the calculation of the crack speed is sufficient to explain what is observed experimentally. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we give some characterizations of the integral and Carleson type measure both associated with higher radial derivative for holomorphic functions of and spaces in the unit ball of . As applications, some sharp forms of the relations between Dirichlet type spaces and spaces are shown by means of higher radial derivative, Carleson type measure and constructive methods for the cases of determinism and randomization, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper studies the characteristics and structure of the weak surface of the production possibility set. We apply techniques and methods of transferring a polyhedral cone from its intersection form to its sum form, identify an intersection representation of the production possibility set. We give the structure theorem of weak surface of the production possibility set, which includes three complementary slackness conditions. We define the input weak efficiency and output weak efficiency for different DEA models according to the representation of the intersection form. It investigates the characteristics of the weak surfaces, and proves the structure theorems of input weak DEA efficiency and output weak DEA efficiency. The structure theorems establish weighted combination of inputs and outputs that are weak DEA efficient. Numerical examples are provided for illustration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to show that various classes of operators having a common collection of root spaces whose closed linear span equals the entire space have dense sets of common cyclic vectors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper deals with a parabolic system, cross-coupled via a nonlinear source and a nonlinear boundary flux. We get a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of non-simultaneous blow-up. In particular, four different simultaneous blow-up rates are obtained in different regions of parameters, described by an introduced characteristic algebraic system. It is observed that different initial data may result in different simultaneous blow-up rates even in the same region of parameters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Small pieces of metal are generated during trimming of automotive body panels. Commonly referred to as slivers, these pieces can be imprinted into the surface of stamped panels. This may require metalfinish of every stamped exterior panel. The objective of the paper is to study the influence of trimming conditions on quality of trimmed surface and to modify the trimming process to eliminate slivers and burrs from trimmed surface. This objective is being accomplished through numerical simulation of the blank fracture and experimental study of trimmed surface formation. Suggested solution includes two measures: (1) building an elastic support of the offal eliminating bending of the part of the blank being trimmed off; (2) creating the preference of crack propagation from the lower shearing edge by machining a small radius on the upper shearing edge. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we present a novel approximate algorithm to calculate the top-k closest pairs join query of two large and high dimensional data sets. The algorithm has worst case time complexity and space complexity and guarantees a solution within a factor of the exact one, where t ∈{1,2,…,∞} denotes the Minkowski metrics L t of interest and d the dimensionality. It makes use of the concept of space filling curve to establish an order between the points of the space and performs at most d +1 sorts and scans of the two data sets. During a scan, each point from one data set is compared with its closest points, according to the space filling curve order, in the other data set and points whose contribution to the solution has already been analyzed are detected and eliminated. Experimental results on real and synthetic data sets show that our algorithm behaves as an exact algorithm in low dimensional spaces; it is able to prune the entire (or a considerable fraction of the) data set even for high dimensions if certain separation conditions are satisfied; in any case it returns a solution within a small error to the exact one. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Given a set D of positive integers, the distance graph has vertices all integers Z, and two vertices j and in Z are adjacent if and only if . This paper determines the circular chromatic numbers of some distance graphs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]