Virtual reconstruction of the 400 toneladas nao from Diego García de Palacio’s Instrucción náutica (1587)

The period between 1570-1620 has left a remarkable amount of documents related to shipbuilding in the Iberian Peninsula. Among them, the Instrucción nautica written by Diego García de Palacio in 1587 is widely recognized as the first published book that includes an extensive discussion of ship design and construction. García de Palacio centres his discussion on a 400 toneladas nao, a series of woodcuts that illustrate the shape and dimensions of the ship accompany the explanation. In the late XVI century ship hulls were designed following procedures based upon an old shipwrightry tradition born in the Mediterranean. By simple rules the master shipwright plots the central frame and tail frames and complete the hull body using wooden ribbands. Computer software for 3D modelling using NURBs surfaces helps to recreate ships hulls. In this work the 400 toneladas nao is reconstructed and her hydrostatic parameters are compared with other ships.

Determination of chromite composition from multispectral reflectance measurements (400-1000 nm)

The relationship between the chemical composition and the multispectral reflectance values of chromite in the VNIR (Visible and Near-Infra-Red) realm is tested and mathematically analysed. Statisticaltools as Pearson's correlation coefficients, linear stepwise regression analysis and least-square adjustments are applied to two populations of data obtained from 14 selected samples 01 chromite multielemental microprobe analysis and multispectral reflectance values (400-1 000 nm). Results show that both data sets correlate, and suggest that the VNIR reflectance spectra can be used as a tool to determine the chemical composition of chromites.