Crumpled Research Articles

Playing With the Past: Building an Aztec Paper Warrior Doll

Ritual, war, and tribute were three of the most important aspects of Aztec culture before they were conquered by the Spaniards in 1521. In this paper, I explore the significance behind tributary objects found in the Codex Mendoza by creating a paper Aztec warrior doll. The Codex Mendoza was a collection of 71 folios curated by the Spanish in 1542 that showcased Nahua culture and the Aztec tributary system. Using both the Codex Mendoza and a larger collection of Nahua history in the Florentine Codex, I contextualized my project in the rituals and history of Aztec culture pre-conquest. For my project, I created a fearsome animal helmet to showcase the fear factor used in ritual warrior costumes, emphasizing a feeling of movement seen in Nahua art by using a European volvelle to articulate the helmet's jaw. I further incorporated elements of indigenous “covering” found in illustrations of the Florentine Codex when considering the material of both the helmet and the cotton armor I recreated from the tributary items, using crumpled tissue paper to reflect the “chewed-up” style of paper covering idols of the warrior deity Huitzilopochtli. Referencing Aztec rituals was something I kept in mind throughout my project as I researched the significance of religious war objects like the temiotl (“god” or “sacred forelock”) and ihuiteteyo (design for war shield) on the dominant symbol of the shield. By analyzing Nahua rituals as seen in the Florentine Codex, I was able to explore the significance behind tributary warrior items in the Codex Mendoza and illuminate just how important materiality and ritual were to Aztec warriors. 

Few sewings of certain crumpled $n$-cubes yield $S^n$

Few sewings of certain crumpled $n$-cubes yield $S^n$

Identification of a naturally occurring Bean common mosaic virus recombinant isolate infecting azuki bean.

The near complete nucleotide sequence of Bean common mosaic virus (BCMV) infecting azuki bean from China was determined to be 10047 nucleotides in length excluding the 3′-terminal poly (A) sequence. The isolate was designated as BCMV-Az and caused stunting, mosaic and crumpling on leaves of azuki plants. It contains a large open reading frame (ORF) flanked by a 131 nt 5′-untranslated region (UTR) and a 253 nt 3′-UTR and the putative polyprotein encoded by this large ORF is comprised of 3220 amino acid residues. Phylogenetic analysis showed that BCMV-Az clustered with strains isolated from different hosts and geographic origins, suggesting that it is a novel strain. Recombination analyses indicated that it was a recombinant originating from isolates R (AJ312437) and US10 (KF919299).

Plasmonics: Graphene crumpling

Plasmonics: Graphene crumpling

What's inside a crumpled ball?

What's inside a crumpled ball?

A look inside the creases

What exactly happens inside a crumpled sheet? New simulations, taking into account that the sheet can't pass through itself, reveal that crumpled sheets are more rigid than one might have guessed.

WITHDRAWN: On John Nash's crumpled surface

This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy .

Fractais no laboratório didático

É discutida a conceituação de objetos com estrutura fractal, tendo em vista sua utilização em experiências motivadoras no laboratório didático. Foram estudadas bolas de pão amassado, que podem ser empregadas como contraponto não fractal (D ~ 3,0) às bolas de papel amassado, as quais apresentam dimensão fractal (D ~ 3,0), salientando a necessidade de um cálculo correto de incertezas. Três tipos de pão foram investigados: dois brancos, de forma e italiano, e um preto denso, do tipo alemão de três grãos. Desses, apenas o pão branco italiano demonstrou possível estrutura fractal, após o amassamento, caracterizada pela dimensão fractal D = 2,81 ± 0,06, enquanto os resultados obtidos para os pães preto e de forma, D = 2,95 ± 0,06 e D = 2,98 ± 0,04 respectivamente, não os tipificam como fractais. São analisados os problemas conceituais que resultaram em dimensão fractal 2,08 ± 0,25 para o pão, em informação encontrada na literatura de escopo didático.

Crumpled paper

Crumpled paper

The Sounds of Crumpling

The Sounds of Crumpling

Every crumpled $n$-cube is a closed $n$-cell-complement.

Every crumpled $n$-cube is a closed $n$-cell-complement.

Crumpled Tracing Paper Paintings

Crumpled Tracing Paper Paintings

The princess and the crumpled roseleaf

The princess and the crumpled roseleaf