Robust Design: A Repertoire of Biological, Ecological, and Engineering Case Studies (Santa Fe Institute Studies on the Sciences of Complexity)

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Robust Design brings together 16 chapters by an eminent group of authors in a wide range of fields presenting aspects of robustness in biological, ecological, and computational systems. The volme is the first to address robustness in biological, ecological, and computational systems. It is an outgrowth of a new research program on robustness at the Sante Fe Institute founded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. For those interested in complexity or interdisciplinary science, robustness is seen as currently among the most intellectually active and promising research areas with important applications in all fields of science, business, and economics.

Robust Control Systems: Theory and Case Studies

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Robust Control Systems: Theory and Case Studies
Uwe Mackenroth
Manufacturer: Springer
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3540209298

Book Description

"Robust Control Systems" gives a self-contained introduction to modern Control Theory. It thus adds a textbook to the existing research-oriented literature on Robust Control. The author lays emphasis on the modern aspects of the design of controllers with prescribed performance and robustness properties. Different to the classical engineering approach, a rigorous mathematical treatment is essential for the full understanding and applicability of the modern methods such as H2 or H8 control or methods based on the structured singular value µ. Nevertheless, no prior knowledge of Control Theory is required as the classical fundamentals are introduced within the first few chapters. Subsequently a large part of the text provides elementary examples and industrial case studies, which are developed in full detail to show how modern methods can be applied to advanced problems. They make intensive use of MATLAB, especially the Control Systems Toolbox and the µ-Analysis and Synthesis Toolbox.

System Identification and Robust Control: A Case Study Approach (Advances in Industrial Control)

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From system-norms to practical design : A quick course

System Identification and Robust Control: A Case Study Approach (Advances in Industrial Control)
Steen Toffner-Clausen
Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag Telos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3540760873

Book Description

The main theme of this book is robust control design from a practical point of view. A thorough introduction to frequency response norm-based robust control design methods is given. This includes, in particular, a comprehensive treatment of the structural singular value µ. An important problem in robust control design is how to determine model uncertainty. In this book it is shown how system identification can be used to obtain error bounds for use in subsequent controller design. Both classical prediction error methods and the more recent Stochastic Embedding Approach are treated and a step-by-step procedure for system identification based robust control design is provided. The design techniques presented in the book are illustrated through numerous case studies including, for example, the control design for an ASTOVL (Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing) aircraft.

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From system-norms to practical design : A quick course.......2000-11-14

This book provides a concise and self-contained introduction to post-modern control theory and estimation priniciples without burdening the lay reader with too much math.

The first section introduces system norms for multivariable control and the structured singular value for robust control design. The next section covers parameter estimation techniques. The material from both sections is then combined for application to practical design problems. All sections contain case studies of example design problems which are presented in detail.

The introduction to system norms is perhaps the best amongst existing books in terms of access to readers with only an undergraduate level background in mathematics. The section on system ID however might require parallel readings from other books if included in a course.

Overall, the book is perfectly taylored to introduce post-modern control philosophies to both graduate students as well as practising engineers.

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With neither friends nor family, Lucy Snowe sets sail from England to find employment in a girls' boarding school in the small town of Villette. There she struggles to retain her self-possession in the face of unruly pupils, an initially suspicious headmaster, and her own complex feelings, first for the school's English doctor and then for the dictatorial professor, Paul Emmanuel. Charlotte Brontë's last and most autobiographical novel is a powerfully moving study of isolation and the pain of unrequited love, narrated by a heroine determined to preserve an independent spirit in the face of adverse circumstances.

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Too consummate to be fully defined.......2007-09-30

Villette is a novel that cannot be pigeon-holed, though it falls loosely into the "Gothic novel" genre. It has many elements of the Gothic novel (the ghost in the attic just for a start) but Bronte turns every single convention of her time and her genre on its head, sometimes multiple times, until the form is a totally new one and all Bronte's own.

As incredible as it may sound, this is both a profoundly feminist and a profoundly conservative work. Bronte proudly displays her own British chauvinism, and creates nearly insufferable male characters (Dr. John, M. Paul, and even M. de Bassompierre at times) who dominate all the women around them gleefully. And in a majority of the cases Lucy Snowe supports and allows the dominance, only taking stands on matters of morality or her own independence. As the novel progresses Lucy stands up for herself more and more, but the overall message is still that women are gravely wronged by society. Bronte, however, doesn't see a way out of this problem.

Because of this, a happy "marriage of equals" cannot ever occur in Villette. Though Bronte, in her conservative fashion, does believe in romantic love and the happiness of a conventional marriage, she cannot reconcile it with the independence she believes women deserve. Bronte is a frustrated, defeatist, proto-feminist, who believes nothing can really be done to remedy the situation of oppressed women.

While this is an important theme of the novel, it's by no means all of it. This novel contains supremely funny passages, and the most scathing irony and sarcasm in the Bronte cannon. The cultural and religious criticism of "Labassecour" and Catholicism border, occasionally, on bigotry and Bronte, though clothed in literary glory, is shown to have the feet of clay of an English-nationalist snob.

The unreliability of the narrator, and the sometimes fragmented and hallucinatory tone of the story, make for a fascinating, if sometimes confusing, read. I agree with the poster above that this is an accessible novel, and certainly easier to read than most Henry James novels, for example, but Bronte's story-telling tricks are sometimes so subtle that the reader doesn't know that he or she is being manipulated. Occasionally it will take the reader a while to believe that he or she is being fooled; still longer to figure out why.

This is a poor description of a superlatively good book. This book does not have the breakneck pace of Jane Eyre. It does not have the excitement or minute-to-minute drama of that book, either, and fans of Jane Eyre will not necessarily enjoy Villette. This is a different novel -- I would say a better, more mature, more virtuouso, and more profound book -- but it also less of a dramatic page-turner. There is little that is knowable and understandable about the heroine, Lucy Snowe: and by this, perhaps Bronte is telling us there is little that we know about ourselves.

If you have patience and a love for rich prose, and are willing to give up some dramatic storytelling (although it is in this book, but simply in a different form) in order to get some amazing cultural criticism, and, quite honestly, some character development on a level not often seen in novels of this time period, Villette will be worth it for you. Keep an open mind, and be ready for some surprises. There is nothing conventional about this book, and that is one of its many strengths.

Villette: Don't believe everything you read.......2007-09-15

I suppose I should begin with the briefest of disclaimers: I wrote my Master's thesis on this novel, so I'm a bit partial to it. That said, I find Villette to be the finest example of Victorian literature that I have yet encountered. In many ways, the novel is considered to be the companion piece to Bronte's first novel, Jane Eyre, since it grapples with many of the same themes and social issues (women on the brink of poverty, the bleak prospects of governesses, etc). Yet, this likeness is superficial, and those seeking to discover a sequel to Jane Eyre may find themselves disappointed by the (anti)narrative of Villette.

Jane Eyre's bildungsroman narrative- the heroine's meteoric rise from orphan amongst the ashes to a happily married gentlewoman authoress- is at every turn frustrated in Villette. Lucy Snowe is by no means the arbiter of her own destiny like her literary predecessor Jane Eyre; she is weak, maladjusted, and misanthropic. I imagine that Lucy's account would more closely resemble that of Mr. Rochester's incarcerated wife, Bertha Mason, than that of beloved Jane's... And this is Villette's principal virtue.

The novel is an unparalleled study in character, providing its readers with access to a fantastically twisted world. Bronte's Lucy Snowe is one of literature's greatest narratological innovations; not only is she unreliable, but she is uncommunicative and at times openly hostile to her audience. This makes for a frustrating read- not due to the difficulty of the novel (compared to Eliot or James, it's not a tough read)- but because it is painful to be perpetually held at bay by the reticence of a narrator whose primary purpose is to relate her life's story to her readers. The reader is made to feel like a child, desperately seeking the love and approval of an emotionally unavailable adult. Perhaps this is the reason many people virulently despise the novel, not because it's predictable (it's not) or contrived, but because its readers are made to feel as if they were despised. They are shunned, rejected, and ultimately denied access to the inner chambers of Lucy Snowe's mind. The account we are given is fabricated, carefully structured, and warped to fit the preconceived notions of a dark and embittered mind. This manipulation provides a poignant commentary on the dangers of "realist" fiction.

Very disappointing.......2007-08-16

I love Jane Eyre, and am more than happy to accept its Victorian coincidences. But in Villette the coincidences are too many and too preposterous. But what's worse than that is that the author doesn't play fair with the reader. Halfway through the book we find out that our heroine has been conscious of one of the coincidences for a couple hundred pages, without letting on to the reader. I almost quit right there -- and I should have. Villette is simply not one tenth as good as Jane Eyre, and it's a pity.

I cannot say it better...........2007-06-02

"All these weary days, I have not for one hour forgotten you." -- Lucy Snowe in Charlotte Bronte's Villette.

Est-elle donc idiote..?.......2007-05-17

Villette is story of a young girl named Lucy Snowe. Upon leaving London with nothing by a trunk of her meager belongings, she takes a teaching position in a french town called Villette. There she is being watched by the ever-nosy hovering but strangely indifferent Madame Beck. (Who hasnt ever known a woman like this.) There are alot of characters with their own personalities that just attach themselves to you, and you automatically feel every torment and happiness Lucy goes through. I like these types of novels strictly for the emormous amounts of detail. Who wouldnt like to read as someone flits 50 different emotions in the span of a second? Haven't we all been there, in the unknowns of indecison? How she thinks of one decision and her thoughts can take up to 20 pages of pure self-responsiveness? I read this story during my hour break at work and constantly had to take it home to know just what happens next. The twists are easy to figure out because the characters are so grounded in their personalities, but still makes it all the more interesting. I gave it 5 stars, although predictable, still a good read (and good for exercising our vocabulary.)

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Unswallowable
Beautiful use of description
More questions than answers
Charlotte Bronte's Best Work
An amazing feminist novel from 1859!

Villette (Signet Classics)
Charlotte Brontë
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451529227
Release Date: 2004-02-03

Book Description

Brontë's romantic heroine Lucy Snowe, a penniless governess attempting to begin life anew in France, is an exceptional example of a great writer transforming her life into art.

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Unswallowable.......2007-08-26

(*POSSIBLE spoiler alert, although I'm trying not to give away anymore than is necessary to explain what I didn't like about the book.)

I appreciate Victorian novels, among which Jane Eyre is one of my favorites. I am more than willing to make allowances for the conventions of Victorian novels, such as the plot turning on unreasonable coincidences. But Villette just has far too many coincidences to swallow. A poor, friendless English orphan crosses the Channel, and once on the other side she she meets any number of fellow Britons, every single one of whom she is closely related to in one way or another.

But worse, Charlotte Bronte is unfair to the reader in Villette -- she tells the reader that certain things are true, but which are completely implausible for any human being, and completely out of characters for the characters whom she has just sketched. I can't elaborate without giving away spoilers, but the loves, the hates, the jealousies, and the forgivenesses all ring false. This is just a trainwreck of a book, and can't hold a candle to Jane Eyre.

Beautiful use of description.......2006-08-24

Villette has always been my favorite book. The use of language and description is superior to her other works. I wouldn't need to see a movie of this book, I already feel like I walked in the garden or sat in one of the classrooms. When I first read the ending, I actually loved it, and still do.

More questions than answers.......2006-05-15

Villette - astonishing! Difficult to decide whether this is a book to love or loathe; no middle ground seems possible. Lucy Snowe is a compelling, engaging narrator; her sharp sarcasm pricks holes in the most inflated personalities and makes us laugh at life's absurdities. But at the same time, Bronte's level-headed narrator is caught in a morass of despair and loneliness from which she never completely escapes. The storyline becomes enmeshed in a dark, surreal web, unsettling and discouraging; this reviewer almost gave up on the book halfway through. Lucy Snowe, like Jane Eyre, can find beauty in unlikely places; but unlike her earlier counterpart, it seems that happiness, for Lucy at least, is too good to be real.

Engaging, poetic, thought-provoking, skilfully created, deeply unsettling and profoundly dark. A mysterious, tragic narrative.

Charlotte Bronte's Best Work.......2005-07-06

As far as I'm concerned, Virginia Woolf had it right. This is Charlotte Bronte's best work, even if it isn't nearly as well known as _Jane Eyre_. I re-read it every few years; it's one of my favorites. It's a sort of coming-of-age story written from the perspective of a young woman who has nothing, not even a smidgeon of self-esteem, but who manages to build a life for herself where she has friends and meaningful work. I suppose that sounds a little dull, but Bronte is such an acute observor of people that every character is three-dimensional. The main character, Lucy, changes throughout the book, and her topics of discussion, her word choices, even her sentence structure slowly evolve with her, illustrating her growth. It's unsentimental and unromanticized, but I do like all the characters in it, even with all their flaws.

An amazing feminist novel from 1859!.......2005-06-05

It was her last completed book, always in the shadow of Jane Eyre. It was insightful, irreverent, angry, tragic, funny, bizarre, gothic and wonderfully honest. At the time, the novel was harshly criticized by men, even feminist men like George Eliot's lover. But George Eliot herself and Virginia Wolf believed it to be her best work.

How unusual first of all to have a heroine like Lucy Snowe, not of noble blood, not rich, not charming, not even good-looking as women (esp in the Victorian period) were expected to be. Like the other characters, she is flawed, contradictory and multi-faceted in a way one rarely sees in literature but continually witnesses in real life. Yet she is decidedly brilliant, original and imaginative like no other. Unconventional and delightfully subversive!

In many ways, this is a truly modern novel to this day. I've never read a novel that so honestly and unflinchingly captures the plight of a woman-artist making her own way in the world despite the obstacles thrown in her path.

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much ado over nothing
I cannot say it better...
Introducing Charlotte Bronte - Beyond Jane Eyre
Another lovely tale from Bronte
One of the Best!

Villette (Oxford World's Classics)
Charlotte Bronte
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192839640

Book Description

'I am only just returned to a sense of the real world about me, for I have been reading Villette, a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre.' George Eliot Lucy Snowe, in flight from an unhappy past, leaves England and finds work as a teacher in Madame Beck's school in 'Villette'. Strongly drawn to the fiery autocratic schoolmaster Monsieur Paul Emanuel, Lucy is compelled by Madame Beck's jealous interference to assert her right to love and be loved. Based in part on Charlotte Bronte's experience in Brussels ten years earlier, Villette (1853) is a cogent and dramatic exploration of a woman's response to the challenge of a constricting social environment. Its deployment of imagery comparable in power to that of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and its use of comedyDSironic or exuberantDSin the service of an ultimately sombre vision, make Villette especially appealing to the modern reader.

Download Description

Left by harrowing circumstances to fend for herself in the great capital of a foreign country, Lucy Snowe, the narrator and heroine of Villette, achieves by degrees an authentic independence from both outer necessity and inward grief. Charlotte Brontë's last novel, published in 1853, has a dramatic force comparable to that of her other masterpiece, Jane Eyre, as well as strikingly modern psychological insight and a revolutionary understanding of human loneliness.

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much ado over nothing.......2007-07-25

too much French; too much detail. slow reading. amazing command of language. thin on plot and action.

I cannot say it better..........2007-06-02

"All these weary days, I have not for one hour forgotten you." -- Lucy Snowe in Charlotte Bronte's Villette.

Introducing Charlotte Bronte - Beyond Jane Eyre.......2007-05-16

I think it's safe to say that most of the people who have read "Villette" probably read "Jane Eyre" first. I know that I did. In such cases, "Villette" may come as a slight surprise. While still like "Jane Eyre" in the sense that much of the story tells of the character's history, includes a strange sort of "love" story, and has a series of fascinating characters, "Villette" feels less about the narrator (Lucy Snowe) than about the other characters.

Let me clarify. While the story IS about Lucy Snowe, there are parts that revolve around her friends. These parts are thoroughly enjoyable as these characters are all so vivid and clear. Everything is easy to imagine and written in such a clear fashion. The plot is intriguing, and parts actually made me laugh aloud in surprise. It's a surprising book. The way everything ties in is done so well. "Villette" deserves a wider audience and greater fame than it has. It rivaled "Jane Eyre", and perhaps surpassed it.

While the ending is the place where most people lower their scores, I personally find it brilliant. It is a vague, ambiguous ending that leaves the reader confused, disoriented, and intrigued. What better way to end a book than mystery? Perhaps not a mystery, but we're left trying to figure it out. Unfortunately, there is no answer, so the romantics will choose a happy ending, and the pessimists a sorrow-filled one.

"Villette" has a whole host of characters. It starts out with children - laughing, teasing, quite adorable children. Later there are the wealthy snob characters, the generous, yet suspcious, motherly characters, the handsome, kind young men, the sweet, and beautiful young women, and the annoying yet lovable colleague (one of my favorites!). Each character has their own spark, their own flaws, and their own crowning virtue and reason for attention. Lucy, in the center of this all, is also an interesting character, though occasionally weak and sometimes a little too fluttery for my taste. Then again, tastes vary. You'll have to see for yourself. (M. Paul is totally the coolest, by the way)

WARNING: Much of this book is in French. Keep a French dictionary handy.

"Villette" is a purely enjoyable book. While some parts seemed to drag on and needed extra attention and patience (not to be read while tired! You'll find yourself skimming over pages, yawning), the final, overall impression is a favorable one. This book deserves the name, "classic". It's a great read, and you're sure to enjoy it, especially if you liked "Jane Eyre".

Enjoy!

Another lovely tale from Bronte.......2007-03-25

Another semi-autobiographical tale from Charlotte Bronte, based upon her time spent teaching in Belgium. This is not a novel of page turning excitement, but a lovely tale of one woman's battle to maintain her independence.

It's very interesting how the author brings characters in and out of her tale, and ties them all together in the end. Along with that, Bronte's gorgeous prose and all those large words that make you want to go running for the dictionary.

A lovely tale, one to savour like a fine red wine or chocolate, and an old classic worth rediscovering (or to discover for the first time). If you enjoyed Jane Eyre this is worth checking out.

One of the Best!.......2007-02-02

I don't know why people are complaining about the ending--though it doesn't spell it out, it's a happy one, and doesn't seem controversial at all if you read it carefully a few times. I've read Villette about four times--once in college (ok, but I didn't really get it then) and more recently after going through a Bronte/Austen marathon. If you love the character of Jane Eyre, you will love Lucy Snowe. If the idea of making your way successfully in the world through challenges, finding love after experiencing a past unrequited love, and plot twists all over--then read on. I used to think that the Austen books and maybe Jane Eyre were the books I enjoyed rereading. Villette has easily made it to that winning list.

The Coherence of Gothic Conventions (University Paperback, No 930)

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The Coherence of Gothic Conventions (University Paperback, No 930)
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Manufacturer: Routledge Kegan & Paul
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Villette (Oberon Modern Plays)
Charlotte Bronte
Manufacturer: Oberon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1840026405

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Villette (Everyman's Library Classics)
Charlotte Bronte
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Villette
Charlotte Bronte
Manufacturer: Norilana Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1934169412

Book Description

Villette (1853) by Charlotte Brontë is the story of Englishwoman Lucy Snowe who ends up a teacher at a girls' pensionnat in Villette, the capital of Labassecour, a fictional French-speaking country on the continent.

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