Vincent Hayward

Fernando Castaños, Hannah Michalska, Dmitry Gromov et al.

Implicit representations of finite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian systems are studied from the perspective of their use in numerical simulation and control design. Implicit representations arise when a system is modeled in Cartesian coordinates and when the system constraints are applied in the form of additional algebraic equations (the system model is in a DAE form). Such representations lend themselves better to sample-data approximations. An implicit representation of a port-Hamiltonian system is given and it is shown how to construct a sampled-data model that preserves the port-Hamiltonian structure under sample and hold.

Charles Hudin, Vincent Hayward

Hearing is often believed to be more sensitive than touch. This assertion is based on a comparison of sensitivities to weak stimuli. The respective stimuli, however, are not easily comparable since hearing is gauged using acoustic pressure and touch using skin displacement. We show that under reasonable assumptions the auditory and tactile detection thresholds can be reconciled on a level playing field. The results indicate that the capacity of touch and hearing to detect weak stimuli varies according to the size of a sensed object as well as to the frequency of its oscillations. In particular, touch is found to be more effective than hearing at detecting small and slow objects.