The VST (VLT Survey Telescope) is a 2.6 m class Alt-Az telescope to be installed on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama desert, Northern Chile, in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) site. The VST is a widefield imaging facility planned to supply databases for the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) science and carry out stand-alone observations in the UltraViolet to Infrared spectral range. So far no ...

State-of-the-art impact dynamics models either apply for free-flying objects or do not account that a robotic manipulator is commonly high-stiffness controlled. Thus, we lack tailor-made manipulators mounted on fixed base. Focusing orthogonal point-to-surface impacts (no tangential velocities), revisit two main elements of an model: the contact-force model and inverse inertia matrix. We collect...

A threshold graph on n vertices is coded by a binary string of length n − 1. We obtain a formula for the inertia of (the adjacency matrix of) a threshold graph in terms of the code of the graph. It is shown that the number of negative eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix of a threshold graph is the number of ones in the code, whereas the nullity is given by the number of zeros in the code that a...

Least-Squares Solution (LSS) of a linear matrix equation and Ordinary Least-Squares Estimator (OLSE) of unknown parameters in a general linear model are two standard algebraical methods in computational mathematics and regression analysis. Assume that a symmetric quadratic matrix-valued function φ(Z) = Q − ZPZ′ is given, where Z is taken as the LSS of the linear matrix equation AZ = B. In this ...

By using the integrator backstepping technique, the control of rigid link, electrically driven robot manipulators is addressed in the presence of arbitrary uncertain manipulator inertia parameters and actuator parameters. The control scheme developed is computationally simple owing to the avoidance of the derivative computation of the regressor matrix. Semiglobal asymptotic stability of the con...

An optimal designmethod for the Gough–Stewart platformmanipulators based on dynamic isotropy is proposed. First, a dynamic isotropy measure is derived from the analysis of the natural frequencies of a Stewart platform at a neutral pose using the inverse of the joint space mass matrix. Next, considering a specific Gough–Stewart platform (SGSP), it is found that, when the payload inertia matrix i...

Spectral stability analysis for solitary waves is developed in the context of the Hamiltonian system of coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The linear eigenvalue problem for a non-self-adjoint operator is studied with two self-adjoint matrix Schrödinger operators. Sharp bounds on the number and type of unstable eigenvalues in the spectral problem are found from the inertia law for quadrati...