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Mate choice is posited to explain the evolution and maintenance of numerous secondary sexual traits, including ornamentation. This study explores the role of ornamentation in the mating success of two sister-species of wolf spider with divergent ornamentation. Mature male Schizocosa crassipalpata lack ornamentation while males of its closest living relative, S. bilineata, express both dark pigmentation and foreleg brushes. Following phenotypic manipulations of foreleg ornamentation - i.e. adding ornamentation in the form of dark pigment to non-ornamented males (S. crassipalpata, Aim 1) and removing ornamentation in varying degrees from highly ornamented males (S. bilineata, Aim 2 - shaving brushes; Aim 3 - shaving brushes and painting over dark pigment in vibration present/absent environments) - we found no evidence that ornamentation alone improves male mating success in either species, regardless of the vibratory signaling environment. In both S. bilineata experiments, however, higher courtship rates resulted in higher mating success, suggesting selection for courtship performance. Furthermore, females were more likely to turn, a presumed receptivity display, in response to males that courted at a higher rate. Also, similar to findings in another relative (S. stridulans), we found indications that ornamentation may function to ease a male's reliance on courtship performance - i.e., at low courtship rates, only ornamented males can secure a mating. Our phenotypic manipulations also influenced courtship behavior in S. bilineata. Shaved males began courting earlier and courted more often over a longer time than intact males, yet ultimately acquired similar matings. This increased courtship effort likely compensated for reduced ornamentation. Finally, the vibratory environment appears crucial for female-male dialogue in S. bilineata, as vibratory absent environments resulted in increased female attacks and decreased male courtship rates. Together, our data suggest that S. crassipalpata females do not possess a preference for ornamentation and that S. bilineata females do not use ornamentation alone in mating decisions. Instead, our results are consistent with a hypothesis that ornamentation in Schizocosa evolved, and is likely maintained, due to its interactions with dynamic movement displays (i.e. leg movements), which can themselves be plastically altered based on the signaler's phenotype as well as the signaling environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the dual keywords--wenfang 文房 and "four friends" (siyou 四友)--this essay examines the inextricable interrelationship among material things, a place, and the self that was initiated during the Song dynasty (960-1279). Song literati displayed unprecedented interest in scholarly things, particularly four specific things in the studio--the writing brush, inkstone, paper, and ink. Through literary representations, this article investigates the changing nature of the literati's relation to these "four things" in the studio. Rather than framing their bond as the ruler and ministers or the owner and his possessions, from the early Northern Song to the Southern Song, writers transformed their relationship to these four things gradually to that between friends and peers, or from pure ownership to an imaginary friendship, and in turn, these four things supported the construction of both the personal studio and the collective identity of the new elites in the Song. This transformation from "four things" or "four treasures" to "four friends" represented a distinctive model of the observation and conception of material things that Song scholars developed, which provided intriguing insights into the relationship between humans and things in premodern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robot artistic painting and robot calligraphy do require brush models for brushstroke simulation and painting robot control. One of the main features of the brush is its compliance, which describes the relationship between the brush footprint shape and the pressure applied to the brush. In addition, during motion, the brush footprint position lags from the brush handle position in a complicated manner. To date, the question of creating a physically correct model of these effects and choosing the best method for the model parameter calibration has not been presented in the literature. In the current paper, we derive equations of the brush contact patch motion, give their closed-form solutions, and investigate three methods for the brush model calibration: capturing brush footprints on a matte glass with a camera, painting calibration brushstrokes, and capturing a brush shape side projection with a camera. As we show, calibration brushstrokes give us primary information on brush contact patch displacement during painting, and capturing the brush side projection allows the accurate estimation of the gap from the brush tip to the center of the contact patch. Capturing brush footprints is useful for creating a brushstroke executable model. As an example, a model for a round artistic brush was created and verified in three tests, including measuring the coordinates of an angular brushstroke center line, simulating an angular brushstroke, and writing a signature using a robotic setup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In pencil-beam-scanning proton therapy, the dose is painted spot-by-spot, layer-by-layer, allowing for significantly more control compared to conventional radiation. This work intends to showcase the impressive ability of intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) to shape complex dose distributions by recreating some of history's most renowned artworks as treatment plans. Five (5) well-recognized paintings were recreated in our clinical treatment planning system using a water phantom as a "canvas" and radiation dose as "paint." For each "painting," colors were assigned to various isodose levels, and the treatment plans were inversely optimized to achieve the desired tones. Using the above methods, we were able to recreate The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, and The Scream by Edvard Munch, among others. The results of this work have potential applications in patient education, medical education, and medical physics education by providing a unique and interesting platform for learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research has explored the contribution of prison art interventions indicating that these hold substantial rehabilitative value. Recent literature in this area has drawn attention to the need to expand social action and community-enhanced art interventions with the aim of aiding incarcerated individuals to reconnect to the community. The following research focused on a unique artist-led prison intervention model, wherein participants who are currently imprisoned create alongside participants who are art students from the local university. This joint space aimed to connect people by providing opportunities to engage with creativity in ways that are both individually and socially transformative. Through a phenomenological approach, this model was explored, aiming to yield relevant insights into the quality and processes of change it enhanced. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 participants involved in the workshop, and data were analyzed aiming to establish an insider's conceptualization of the meaning for them of the art group experience. The findings point to participants' experience of the workshop as a unique space in which barriers and stigmatic preconceptions were broken and where a sense of acceptance, belonging, and bonding developed in a nonjudgmental atmosphere of joint creativity. Understandings of the way these essential elements of the joint creative experience served to promote implicit processes toward growth and positive trajectories of change are discussed in light of the broaden-and-build and polyvagal theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of carbon fiber epoxy resin composite (CFRP) in the aerospace industry is limited by the laser treatment, because of the poor oxidation resistance and anti-laser ablation performance of the composites. The application of a coating on components is an effective method to improve their laser ablation resistance. The nitride coatings, consisting of Si3N4, AlN, BN, and an epoxy resin, were applied onto the CFRP using brush painting. When irradiating at 100 W/cm2 for 5 s, the damage has occurred on the coating with Si3N4 and AlN, and the BN coating remains original morphology at 100 W/cm2 for 20 s. With the power density has increased to 200 W/cm2, the serious ablation damage occurs in the BN coating irradiated for 10 s. Due to the heat absorption of resin pyrolysis and the low thermal conductivity of CFRP, the highest back-surface temperature is only 75 °C. The laser protection performance of CFRP should mainly improved by increasing the reflectivity of the coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tejuelo: Didáctica de Lengua y Literatura is the property of Tejuelo. Didactica de la Lengua y la Literatura. Educacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The representation of Ottoman wars that ended in victories or defeats in depictions on the theme of warfare in the history of painting art constitutes a part of the tradition that has been maintained for centuries. Although people have acquired the events that took place in the past from written sources, they have portrayed the developments that left a mark on the world, especially wars, in their minds from time to time through such descriptions. This situation, when fed with the idea of heroism, left its place to a visual image that turned into heroic emotions. It is possible to feel the most beautiful reflections of this in the paintings on the Preveza Naval Victory of 1538. It was thanks to these paintings that this struggle, which was one of the largest naval battles that enabled the Ottoman Empire to establish a significant superiority in the Mediterranean, turned into a visual document. Because this image, which engraved the invincibility of the Ottomans in minds, triggered the birth of a strong Turkish image in a way. At the same time, it made a great visual contribution to the Ottoman historical narrative. Moreover, it started to produce its first products from the middle of the 19th century. But the greatest contribution that the Preveze Naval Battle has made to this field is that it has brought the earliest Ottoman battle painting from the brush of a Turkish painter to the art of painting. In this article, the dominance of the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean has been visually documented through these paintings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human handwriting is an everyday task performed regularly by most people. In the domain of robotic painting, multiple calligraphy machines exist which were built to replicate some aspects of human artistic writing; however, most projects are limited to a specific style of handwriting, often Chinese calligraphy. We propose a two-stage pipeline that allows industrial robots to write text in arbitrary typefaces and scripts using paintbrushes. In the first stage, we extract a set of strokes from character glyphs which are similar to how humans choose strokes during writing. In the second stage, we generate corresponding brush trajectories by applying a brush model to the extracted strokes. Our brush model computes the required brush pressure to achieve the given stroke width while also accounting for brush lag. We also present a method to automatically measure the parameters needed to predict brush lag by painting and recording calibration patterns. Our method generates trajectories for text in any given typeface, which, when executed by a robotic arm, results in legible written text. We can render most writing systems, excluding emoji and ligatures, in which arbitrary texts can be specified to write. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Eurasian motif complex built around the illusion of a flood was described by Artёm Koz'min in 2011 under the preliminary name of the Saint Euplus Miracle. Subsequently, this discovery proved to be productive in the understanding of the development of some Chinese plots including the image of a magic paintbrush. This article deals with a combination of the magic paintbrush image and the borrowed motif complex centred around water that apears miraculously, or the illusion of it, in Chinese tradition. The image of a magic brush has been widespread in the literature and folklore of China for centuries, although this combination, which underlies the famous tale Ma Liang and his Magic Brush, remains unnoticed. The aim of the article is to describe the Chinese version of the Saint Euplus Miracle and to point out its characteristic features. In all the Chinese examples analysed, the role of the magic helper was prominent, while in the non-Chinese cases the helper was generally absent. Another feature specific to the Chinese cases was the helper giving the hero a magic object for use in drawing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A copy of the first volume of Mark Catesby's Natural history of Carolina which came to light in the 1980s, now in the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, Washington, DC, has unique significance as an abandoned and previously unknown issue, a variant formatted quite differently from the standard copies of Catesby's book. Numerous physical features, including calligraphic trials in pen and ink, copied outlines of parts of the etched images in graphite, pencil identifications and annotations, and evidence of burning consistent with other items in the Bartram collections, allow the identification of this copy of the Natural History with the one that Catesby mentions in his letters as having been given to his friend the Philadelphia botanist and collector, John Bartram. From these features it would appear that the copy was used by John's son, William, as a copybook for teaching himself ornithological drawing and as a reference book for his own scientific study. The sensitive and transparent hand-colouring of the plates which allows the etched lines to remain legible strongly suggests that the copy was hand-coloured by Catesby himself. The presence of brush trials and paint daubs further suggests the possibility of the volume having been used as an exemplar or a set of pattern plates for Catesby's colourers, while the possibility that William Bartram used it for matching colours while making his own natural history drawings must also be kept open. The authors aim to draw attention to several different explanations for the unusual features of this volume, while acknowledging that many questions remain unanswered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Coeur d'Alene Nursery seed increase program incorporates Regional Forest Service seed transfer protocols to ensure genetically appropriate seed sources are used for revegetation efforts. We have developed seed increase protocols for Region 2 US Forest Service Sensitive Species Ipomopsis aggregata (Pursh) V.E. Grant ssp. weberi V.E. Grant & Wilken (rabbit ears gilia [Polemoniaceae]) and hemiparasitic Castilleja flava S. Watson var. flava (yellow Indian paintbrush [Orobanchaceae]). Both species exhibit life history traits such as biennial habit, obligate outcrossing pollination strategy, and indeterminate capsule ripening or hemiparasitism, requiring development of efficient and less expensive seed increase methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, titled "In Love You Learned," is a personal essay written by Sophie Ezzell, a queer Urban Appalachian writer. Ezzell shares various lessons and experiences, including how to break a book at the spine, how to fold origami, and how to remove stains. The essay also touches on topics such as discomfort in churches, falling in love with a girl, and self-discovery. Ezzell's writing explores themes of healing, self-acceptance, and the importance of one's own body. [Extracted from the article]

We propose Neural Brushstroke Engine, the first method to apply deep generative models to learn a distribution of interactive drawing tools. Our conditional GAN model learns the latent space of drawing styles from a small set (about 200) of unlabeled images in different media. Once trained, a single model can texturize stroke patches drawn by the artist, emulating a diverse collection of brush styles in the latent space. In order to enable interactive painting on a canvas of arbitrary size, we design a painting engine able to support real-time seamless patch-based generation, while allowing artists direct control of stroke shape, color and thickness. We show that the latent space learned by our model generalizes to unseen drawing and more experimental styles (e.g. beads) by embedding real styles into the latent space. We explore other applications of the continuous latent space, such as optimizing brushes to enable painting in the style of an existing artwork, automatic line drawing stylization, brush interpolation, and even natural language search over a continuous space of drawing tools. Our prototype received positive feedback from a small group of digital artists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Nowadays, the use of silicones in cosmetic formulation is still controversial, given that "natural" or "biodegradable" components are preferred. Often, the exclusion and/or the discrimination of these excipients from cosmetic field are unmotivated because all things cannot be painted with the same brush. Hence, we want to bring to light and underline the advantages of including silicones in cosmetic emulsions, refuting and debunking some myths related to their use. Methods: Silicone‐free and silicone‐based emulsions were obtained within an easy homogenization process. Droplet size distribution was assessed by laser diffraction particle size analyser Mastersizer 2000™, and by optical microscopy. The long‐time stability profiles were investigated thanks to the optical analyser Turbiscan® Lab Expert. Diffusing wave spectroscopy (DWS) by Rheolaser Master™ and frequency sweep measurements by Kinexus® Pro Rotational Rheometer were carried out to assess a full rheological characterization. In vivo studies were carried out by the evaluation of Trans Epidermal Water Loss (TEWL) over time on healthy human volunteers. A skin feeling rating was collected from the same volunteers by questionnaire. Results: From size distribution analysis, a better coherence of data appeared for silicone‐based emulsion, as the size of the droplets was kept unchanged after 1 month, as well as the uniformity parameter. Morphological investigation confirmed a homogenous droplet distribution for both samples. Silicones enhanced the viscosity, compactness and strength of the cream, providing a suitable stability profile both at room temperature and when heated at 40°C. The solid‐like viscoelastic behaviour was assessed in the presence of dynamic oscillatory stresses. The monitoring of TEWL over time demonstrated non‐occlusive properties of emulsions containing silicones, the values of which were comparable to the negative control. Silicone‐based emulsions gained higher scores from the volunteers in silkiness, freshness and softness features, while lower scores were obtained in greasiness compared to silicone‐free emulsions. No cases of irritation were recorded by the candidates. Conclusion: The presence of specific silicones inside a cosmetic product improved its technological characteristics. The rheological identity and the stability feature showed the real suitability of prepared emulsion as a cosmetic product. Moreover, this study demonstrated that silicone‐based emulsions are safe for the skin and did not cause skin occlusion. Improved skin sensations are registered by potential consumers when silicones are included in the formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of AmeSea International Journal is the property of Africa & Middle East Society for Education through Art and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aimed to develop a modified histochemical staining technique to successfully identify arterial and venous segments of brain microvessels. Gelatin/red ink-alkaline phosphatase-oil red O (GIAO) staining was developed from the traditional gelatin–ink perfusion method. Oil red Chinese ink for brush writing and painting mixed with gelatin was used to label cerebral vascular lumens. Subsequently, alkaline phosphatase staining was used to label endothelial cells on the arterial segments of cerebral microvessels. Thereafter, the red ink color in vessel lumens was highlighted with oil red O staining. The arterial segments of the brain microvessels exhibited red lumens surrounded by dark blue walls, while the venous segments were bright red following GIAO staining. Meanwhile, the nerve fiber bundles were stained brownish-yellow, and the nuclei appeared light green under light microscope. After cerebral infarction, we used GIAO staining to determine angiogenesis features and detected notable vein proliferation inside the infarct core. Moreover, GIAO staining in conjunction with hematoxylin staining was performed to assess the infiltration of foamy macrophages. Red Chinese ink enabled subsequent multiple color staining on brain section. Oil red O was introduced to improved the resolution and contrast between arterial and venous segments of microvessels. With excellent resolution, GIAO staining effectively distinguished arterial and venous segments of microvessels in both normal and ischemic brain tissue. GIAO staining, as described in the present study, will be useful for histological investigations of microvascular bed alterations in a variety of brain disorders. • A custom-made perfusion system improved gelatin-ink perfusion efficacy. • GIAO staining identified arterial and venous segments of brain microvessels. • GIAO staining revealed distinct angiogenesis patterns after stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the contribution of multisensory predictions to body ownership, and beyond, to the integration of body-related signals. Contrary to the prevailing idea, according to which, to be integrated, cues necessarily have to be perceived simultaneously, we instead proposed the prediction-confirmation account. According to this account, a perceived cue can be integrated with a predicted cue as long as both signals are relatively simultaneous. To test this hypothesis, a standard rubber hand illusion (RHI) paradigm was used. In the first part of each trial, the illusion was induced while participants observed the rubber hand being touched with a paintbrush. In the subsequent part of the trial, (i) both rubber hand and the participant’s real hand were stroked as before (i.e., visible/synchronous condition), (ii) the rubber hand was not stroke anymore (i.e., visible/tactile-only condition), or (iii) both rubber hand and the participant’s real hand were synchronously stroked while the location where the rubber hand was touched was occulted (i.e., occulted/synchronous condition). However, in this latter condition, participants still perceived the approaching movement of the paintbrush. Thus, based on this visual cue, the participants can properly predict the timepoint at which the tactile cue should occur (i.e., visuotactile predictions). Our major finding was that compared with the visible/tactile-only condition, the occulted/synchronous condition did not exhibit a decrease of the RHI as in the visible/synchronous condition. This finding supports the prediction-confirmation account and suggests that this mechanism operates even in the standard version of the RHI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advantages and disadvantages of five kinds of methods for removal of coatings i.e. mechanical method, high temperature method, jetting, laser irradiation, and chemical method were compared. The chemical method was selected to remove the organic coating from the surface of military electronic product. Some factors affecting the removal efficiency were studied. The results showed the organic coating could be effectively removed whether it was overall immersed in paint stripper or brushed with paint stripper partially. The paint stripper could be reused and had no corrosivity to conductive oxide film or metal substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast advancement of computer science and information technology has resulted in a significant revolution in the commercial painting sector. The professional painting industry has experienced a dramatic breakthrough with the rapid expansion of computer science and technology. With the rapid development and comprehensive popularization of computer technology, more and more people use computer image processing technology in oil painting created as a new way of creation. Some artists use a variety of ways to study the way of oil painting creation and use image processing technology to stimulate the creator's imagination and improve the efficiency of drawing sketches in optimizing creative ideas, drawing, and processing original works. However, the value of art comes from creation. Oil painting creation based on computer image processing is a new type of artistic production that still requires the integration of different artists' ideas and creative concepts. The image processing technology is a tool and a way for artists to make art while also realizing the convergence of science, technology, and art. This paper uses computer image processing technology to study oil painting creation. First, it briefly discusses computer image processing technology, focusing on picture preprocessing and image graying, and then uses this technique in formation of oil painting. Second, it establishes the oil painting mathematical, direction field, and color conversion models completing the oil painting image creation by using this model. Finally, the advantages of this technology are analyzed from the two aspects of oil painting creation, painting technique, and brush direction. The results show that 75% of artists are very satisfied with the digital painting technique, and 65% of artists are very satisfied with the painting brush direction, which shows that the application effect of computer image processing technology in oil painting creation is remarkable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is it possible to reconstruct the gesture of an ancient artist applying a paint layer, considering that the orientation distribution of crystallites of an inorganic pigment remains definitively imprinted on the support after drying of the layer? If the pigment contains paramagnetic transition metal ions whose magnetic interactions are themselves anisotropic, then the shape of the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum should reflect the distribution of grain orientations. We have demonstrated this effect in the case of Egyptian blue CaCuSi 4 O 10 , a pigment used for at least 3 millennia in antiquity, by reconstructing the probability density of crystallite orientations under various modes of application, such as brush painting, dabbing and droplet deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]