Ricerc@Sapienza

We construct a new class of approximating functions that are M-refinable and provide shape preserving approximations. The refinable functions in the class are smooth, compactly supported, centrally symmetric and totally positive. Moreover, their refinable masks are associated with convergent subdivision schemes. The presence of one or more shape parameters gives a great flexibility in the applications. Some examples for dilation M=4and M=5are also given.