101,048 research outputs found
Computational Methods for Periodic Systems - An Overview
No full textWe present an up-to-date survey of numerical methods for the analysis and design of linear discrete-time periodic systems. The basic tool is the periodic Schur form and its variants, for which a certain form of numerical stability can be ensured
Wild seed, domestic seed : companion species and the emergence of agriculture
No full textVan Dooren, T. Wild seed, domestic seed : companion species and the emergence of agriculture. PAN : philosophy activism nature. 2012; 9, 22-28
Vulture
No full textSimply because they are large scavenging birds, vultures are often viewed as harbingers of death. But, as Thom van Dooren shows in this cultural and natural history, that dominant association leaves us with a very one-dimensional understanding of a group of actually rather fascinating and diverse creatures. Vulture offers an enlightening new history of this much-misunderstood bird. Vultures vary in type and size, and while some have a diet mainly of bone, others are actually almost completely vegetarian. Most interesting, despite its notorious association with death, the vulture very rarely, if ever, kills for itself. In different cultural mythologies, vultures play a role in disposing of the dead and officiating over human sacrifices, but they have often been viewed as courageous and noble creatures as wellbelieved to be indispensable in the containment of waste and disease and even to be world creators and divine mothers. Van Dooren explores these many histories, from some of the earliest-known Neolithic sites in which vultures are thought to have consumed the dead to contemporary efforts to reintroduce the bearded vulture into the Alps. Highlighting the rich diversity of vultures and the many ways in which people have understood and lived with them, Vulture invites a new appreciation and wonder for these incredible birds
Letter, [Author unclear] to Paulina T. Merritt
No full textHandwritten letter to Paulina Merritt from an unknown author, October 1, 1876.
Computational aspects of the Jordan canonical form
No full textIn this paper we discuss algorithmic aspects of the computation of the Jordan canonical form. Inspired by the Golub & Wilkinson paper [9] on the computation of the Jordan canonical form, an O(n 3 ) algorithm was developed by Beelen & Van Dooren [3] for computing the Kronecker structure of an arbitrary pencil B Gamma A. Here we show how the ideas of this algorithm lead to a special algorithm for reconstructing the Jordan structure of the standard eigenvalue problem I Gamma A
Arbitrary pole placement with the extended Kautsky–Nichols–van Dooren parametric form
No full textWe consider the classic problem of pole placement by state feedback. The well-known eigenstructure assignment algorithm of Kautsky, Nichols, and van Dooren is extended to obtain a parametric formula for the pole-placing feedback matrix that can deliver any desired closed-loop eigenvalues, with any desired multiplicities
Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction
No full textA leading figure in the emerging field of extinction studies, Thom van Dooren puts philosophy into conversation with the natural sciences and his own ethnographic encounters to vivify the cultural and ethical significance of modern-day extinctions. Unlike other meditations on the subject, Flight Ways incorporates the particularities of real animals and their worlds, drawing philosophers, natural scientists, and general readers into the experience of living among and losing biodiversity.
Each chapter of Flight Ways focuses on a different species or group of birds: North Pacific albatrosses, Indian vultures, an endangered colony of penguins in Australia, Hawaiian crows, and the iconic whooping cranes of North America. Written in eloquent and moving prose, the book takes stock of what is lost when a life form disappears from the world—the wide-ranging ramifications that ripple out to implicate a number of human and more-than-human others. Van Dooren intimately explores what life is like for those who must live on the edge of extinction, balanced between life and oblivion, taking care of their young and grieving their dead. He bolsters his studies with real-life accounts from scientists and local communities at the forefront of these developments. No longer abstract entities with Latin names, these species become fully realized characters enmeshed in complex and precarious ways of life, sparking our sense of curiosity, concern, and accountability toward others in a rapidly changing world
Arbitrary pole placement with the extended Kautsky-Nichols-van Dooren parametric form with minimum gain
No full textWe consider the classic problem of pole placement by state feedback. We revisit the well-known eigenstructure assignment algorithm of Kautsky, Nichols and van Dooren [1] and extend it to obtain a novel parametric form for the pole-placing feedback matrix that can deliver any set of desired closed-loop eigenvalues, with any desired multiplicities. This parametric formula is then employed to introduce an unconstrained nonlinear optimisation algorithm to obtain a feedback matrix that delivers the desired pole placement with minimum gain
- …
