Prof Oliver Mason

    Hamilton Institute, Mathematics and Statistics

    Professor

    Logic House
    2nd Floor
    204
    (01) 708 3672

    Biography

    Oliver Mason completed a B.A (mod) and an MSc (Research) in Mathematics in Trinity College in 1995 and 1998 respectively.  After spending time working on satellite communications and in the institute of technology sector, he did a PhD in Lyapunov stability theory for switched systems at Maynooth University, completing the latter in 2004. 

    He has been a faculty member at Maynooth University since 2009. 

    Research Interests

    My main research interests are in the areas of Systems and Control Theory, Matrix Theory, and the Mathematics of Data Privacy. 

    I have worked on the theory and applications of positive dynamical systems for a number of years, particularly on the stability theory of linear and nonlinear positive systems subject to time-delay and uncertainty.  I am also interested in applications of such systems to models in mathematical epidemiology and ecology.  

    Another major research focus of mine concerns problems of matrix stability.  In particular, I am interested in strong forms of stability such as D-stability and diagonal stability and their extensions to families of matrices defining difference or differential inclusions and to pairs of matrices arising in connection with linear time-delay systems.        

    The max-algebra is defined by the nonnegative real numbers equipped with the two operations of multiplication and maximisation.  I am interested in studying the linear algebra of matrices defined over the max-algebra with a particular focus on the asymptotic behaviour of semigroups generated by sets of such matrices.  

    I have also worked on questions related to data privacy and the application of privacy frameworks such as Differential Privacy to control systems. 

    More recently, I have been studying problems related to the control of wave energy converters (WECs) and the optimisation of their performance, particularly when organised into arrays or farms of WECs.
      

    Book Chapter

    Year Publication
    2011 Mason, O;Verwoerd, M;Clifford, P (2011) 'Inference of Protein Function from the Structure of Interaction Networks' In: STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX NETWORKS. BERLIN : SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLIN. [DOI]

    Peer Reviewed Journal

    Year Publication
    2023 de Godoy I.B.S.;McGrane-Corrigan B.;Mason O.;Moral R.d.A.;Godoy W.A.C. (2023) 'Plant-host shift, spatial persistence, and the viability of an invasive insect population'. Ecological Modelling, 475 . [DOI]
    2020 Aisling Mc Glinchey and Oliver Mason (2020) 'Observations on the bias of nonnegative mechanisms for differential privacy'. AIMS Journal, 2 (4):429-442. http://dx.doi.org/10.3934/fods.2020020 [Full-Text]
    2020 Aisling Mc Glinchey and Oliver Mason (2020) 'Some novel aspects of the positive linear observer problem: Differential privacy and optimal l1 sensitivity'. Journal of the Franklin Institute, 357 (18):13923-13940. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfranklin.2020.10.004 [Full-Text]
    2018 Aleksandrov A.;Mason O. (2018) 'Diagonal stability of a class of discrete-time positive switched systems with delay'. IET Control Theory and Applications, 12 (6):812-818. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2018 Nicola Guglielmi, Oliver Mason and Fabian Wirth (2018) 'Barabanov norms, Lipschitz continuity and monotonicity for the max algebraic joint spectral radius'. LINEAR ALGEBRA AND ITS APPLICATIONS, 550 :37-58. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2018 Aleksandrov, A. Yu.; Mason, O. (2018) 'On Diagonal Stability of Positive Systems with Switches and Delays'. Automation and Remote Control, 79 (12):2114-2127. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2017 A. Aleksandrov, O. Mason and A. Vorob'eva (2017) 'Diagonal Riccati stability and the Hadamard product'. LINEAR ALGEBRA AND ITS APPLICATIONS, 534 :158-173. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2017 N. Holohan, D.J. Leith and O. Mason (2017) 'Extreme points of the local differential privacy polytope'. LINEAR ALGEBRA AND ITS APPLICATIONS, 534 :78-96. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2017 N. Holohan, D.J. Leith and O. Mason (2017) 'Optimal Differentially Private Mechanisms for Randomised Response'. IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 12 (11):2726-2735. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2016 Aleksandrov A.;Mason O. (2016) 'Diagonal Riccati stability and applications'. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 492 :38-51. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2016 Peters A.;Middleton R.;Mason O. (2016) 'Cyclic interconnection for formation control of 1-D vehicle strings'. European Journal of Control, 27 :36-44. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2016 Holohan N.;Leith D.;Mason O. (2016) 'Differentially private response mechanisms on categorical data'. Discrete Applied Mathematics, 211 :86-98. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2015 Gursoy, BB;Kirkland, S;Mason, O;Sergeev, S (2015) 'The Markov Chain Tree Theorem in commutative semirings and the State Reduction Algorithm in commutative semifields'. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 468 :184-196. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2015 Holohan, N;Leith, DJ;Mason, O (2015) 'Differential privacy in metric spaces: Numerical, categorical and functional data under the one roof'. Information Sciences, 305 :256-268. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2014 A. Yu Aleksandrov and O. Mason (2014) 'Diagonal Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals for discrete-time positive systems with delay'. Systems and Control Letters, 63 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2014 Peters, AA;Middleton, RH;Mason, O (2014) 'Leader tracking in homogeneous vehicle platoons with broadcast delays'. Automatica, 50 :64-74. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2014 A. Yu Aleksandrov and O. Mason (2014) 'Absolute stability and Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals for switched nonlinear systems with time-delay'. JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE-ENGINEERING AND APPLI, 351 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2014 M. Ait-Rami, V. Bokharaie, O. Mason and F. Wirth (2014) 'Stability criteria for SIS epidemiological models under switching policies '. Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems - Series B, 19 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2014 Mason, O;Wirth, F (2014) 'Extremal norms for positive linear inclusions'. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 444 :100-113. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2013 Gursoy B.;Mason O.;Sergeev S. (2013) 'The analytic hierarchy process, max algebra and multi-objective optimisation'. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 438 (7):2911-2928. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2013 B. Benek Gursoy, S. Kirkland, O. Mason and S. Sergeev (2013) 'On the Markov Chain Tree Theorem in Max Algebra'. Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra, 26 . [Full-Text]
    2013 Small, L;Mason, O (2013) 'Information diffusion on the iterated local transitivity model of online social networks'. Discrete Applied Mathematics, 161 :1338-1344. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2013 Small, L;Mason, O (2013) 'Nash Equilibria for competitive information diffusion on trees'. Information Processing Letters, 113 :217-219. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2012 Y. O'Donoghue, O. Mason and R. Middleton (2012) 'On the Kamke-Muller conditions, monotonicity and continuity for bi-modal piecewise-smooth systems'. Systems and Control Letters, 61 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2012 O. Mason (2012) 'Diagonal Riccati Stability and Positive Time-Delay Systems'. Systems and Control Letters, 61 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2011 B. Benek Gursoy and O. Mason (2011) 'P1-max and S-max properties and asymptotic stability in the max algebra'. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 435 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2011 M. Verwoerd and O. Mason (2011) 'A Convergence Result for the Kuramoto Model with All-to-All Coupling'. SIAM JOURNAL OF APPLIED DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS, 10 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2011 V. S. Bokharaie, O. Mason and F. Wirth (2011) 'Stability and positivity of equilibria for subhomogeneous cooperative systems'. To be added, 74 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2011 Benek Gursoy, B. and O. Mason (2011) 'Spectral Properties of Matrix Polynomials in the Max Algebra '. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 435 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2011 V. S. Bokharaie, O. Mason and M. Verwoerd (2011) 'Correction to D-Stability and Delay-Independent Stability of Homogeneous Cooperative Systems'. 56 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2010 V. S. Bokharaie, O. Mason and M. Verwoerd (2010) 'D-Stability and Delay-independent stability of homogeneous cooperative systems'. 55 . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2010 Griggs, WM;King, CK;Shorten, RN;Mason, O;Wulff, K (2010) 'Quadratic Lyapunov functions for systems with state-dependent switching'. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 433 :52-63. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2009 Solmaz, S., Mason, O. and Shorten, R. (2009) 'General Inertia and Circle Criterion'. PROCEEDINGS IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS AND MECHANICS, 6 :845-845. [Full-Text]
    2009 Shorten, R.N., O. Mason, C. King (2009) 'An elementary proof of the Barker, Berman, Plemmons result on diagonal stability and extensions '. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 431 :34-40. [Full-Text]
    2009 Verwoerd, M. and Mason, O. (2009) 'On computing the critical coupling coefficient for the Kuramoto model on a complete Bipartite graph'. SIAM JOURNAL OF APPLIED DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS, 8 . [Full-Text]
    2009 Mason, O. and Verwoerd, M. (2009) 'Observations on the Stability Properties of Cooperative Systems'. Systems and Control Letters, 58 . [Full-Text]
    2009 Knorn, F;Mason, O;Shorten, R (2009) 'On linear co-positive Lyapunov functions for sets of linear positive systems'. Automatica, 45 :1943-1947. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2008 M. Verwoerd and O. Mason (2008) 'Global phase-locking in finite populations of phase-coupled oscillators'. SIAM JOURNAL OF APPLIED DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS, 7 :134-160. [Full-Text]
    2008 Solmaz S., Shorten R., and Mason O. (2008) 'Switching Stability of Automotive Roll Dynamics Subject to Interval Uncertainty'. PROCEEDINGS IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS AND MECHANICS, 8 :10921-10922. [Full-Text]
    2008 P. Wellstead, E. Bullinger, D. Kalamatianos, O. Mason and M. Verwoerd (2008) 'The Role of Control and System Theory in Systems Biology'. Annual Reviews in Control, 32 :33-47. [Full-Text]
    2007 Gurvits, L;Shorten, R;Mason, O (2007) 'On the stability of switched positive linear systems'. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 52 :1099-1103. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2007 O. Mason and M. Verwoerd (2007) 'Graph Theory and Networks in Biology'. IET Systems Biology, 1 :89-119. [Full-Text]
    2007 Mason, O;Shorten, R (2007) 'On linear copositive Lyapunov functions and the stability of switched positive linear systems'. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 52 :1346-1349. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2007 Shorten, R., Wirth, F., Mason, O., Wulff, K. and King, C. (2007) 'Stability Criteria for Switched and Hybrid Systems'. 49 :545-592. [Full-Text]
    2007 Zeheb, E;Mason, O;Solmaz, S;Shorten, R (2007) 'Some results on quadratic stability of switched systems with interval uncertainty'. International Journal of Control, 80 :825-831. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2007 O. Mason, R. Shorten and S. Solmaz (2007) 'On the Kalman-Yakubovich-Popov lemma and common Lyapunov solutions for matrices with regular inertia'. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 420 :183-197. [Full-Text]
    2006 Verwoerd M.;Mason O. (2006) 'Discussion on: Multi-layer switching control using generalized sampled-data hold functions'. European Journal of Control, 12 (5):500-503. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2006 Mason, O;Shorten, R (2006) 'On the simultaneous diagonal stability of a pair of positive linear systems'. Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 413 :13-23. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2006 Solmaz S., Mason O., Shorten R. (2006) 'General Inertia and Circle Criterion'. PROCEEDINGS IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS AND MECHANICS, 6 :845-846. [Full-Text]
    2005 Mason O.;Shorten R. (2005) 'The geometry of convex cones associated with the Lyapunov inequality and the common Lyapunov function problem'. Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra, 12 :42-63. [Full-Text]
    2004 R.N. Shorten, O. Mason, F. Cairbre and P. Curran (2004) 'A unifying framework for the Circle Criterion and other quadratic stability criteria'. International Journal of Control, 77 :1-8. [Full-Text]
    2004 Mason O.;Shorten R. (2004) 'On common quadratic Lyapunov functions for stable discrete-time LTI systems'. IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics, 69 (3):271-283. [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2003 Shorten, R. and Narendra, K. S. and O. Mason (2003) 'A note on common quadratic Lyapunov functions'. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 48 :110-113. [Full-Text]
    2003 Leith, DJ;Shorten, RN;Leithead, WE;Mason, O;Curran, P (2003) 'Issues in the design of switched linear control systems: A benchmark study'. International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing, 17 :103-118. [DOI] [Full-Text]

    Conference Publication

    Year Publication
    2022 Jain J.K.;Mason O.;Peña-Sanchez Y.;Ringwood J.V. (2022) IFAC-PapersOnLine Optimal Control of Wave Energy Devices with Nonlinear Reactive Power Constraints [DOI]
    2022 Jain J.K.;Mason O.;Said H.A.;Ringwood J.V. (2022) IFAC-PapersOnLine Limiting reactive power flow peaks in wave energy systems [DOI]
    2018 Aisling McGlinchey and Oliver Mason (2018) European Control Conference Bounding the L2 sensitivity of positive linear observers
    2017 Mason, O.;Mc Glinchey, A.; Wirth, F. (2017) 5th International Symposium on Positive Systems, Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences, 471: 3--15 Persistence, Periodicity and Privacy for Positive Systems in Epidemiology and Elsewhere
    2017 McGlinchey, A.; Mason, O. (2017) IFAC World Congress Differential privacy and the L1 sensitivity of positive linear observers [Link] [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2016 Peter, A.A; Mason, O; Middleton, R.H. (2016) Control Applications (CCA), 2016 IEEE Conference on Leader following with non-homogeneous weights for control of vehicle formations [Full-Text]
    2014 Peters A.;Mason O.;Middleton R. (2014) 2014 European Control Conference, ECC 2014 Cyclic interconnection in 1-D vehicle formation control [DOI]
    2012 Mustafa Ait Rami, Vahid S. Bokharaie, Oliver Mason, Fabian Wirth (2012) Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS) Extremal norms for positive linear inclusions [Full-Text]
    2010 Griggs, W.M., C.K. King, R.N. Shorten, O. Mason and K. Wulff (2010) Proceedings of the 17th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation A geometrical treatment for obtaining necessary and sufficient conditions for joint quadratic Lyapunov function existence for state-dependent, switched systems: a two-dimensional case. [Full-Text]
    2010 Vahid Bokharaie, Oliver Mason and Fabian Wirth (2010) Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS) Spread of epidemics in time-dependent networks [Full-Text]
    2010 Vahid Bokharaie, Oliver Mason and Fabian Wirth (2010) Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS) On the D-Stability of Linear and Nonlinear Positive Switched Systems [Full-Text]
    2009 Knorn, F., O. Mason, R. Shorten (2009) Third Multidisciplinary International Symposium on Positive Systems: Theory and Application POSTA’09, 2-4 September 2009, Valencia, Spain Applications of Linear Co-positive Lyapunov Functions for Switched Linear Positive Systems [Full-Text]
    2009 Mason, O., V.S. Bokharaie and R. Shorten (2009) Proc. POSTA 2009, Valencia, Spain Stability and D-stability for Switched Positive Systems [Full-Text]
    2007 T. Rutjes, O. Mason and M. Verwoerd (2007) Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on the Foundations of Systems Biology in Engineering (FOSBE), Stuttgart, Germany On the growth of the largest component in duplication-divergence models of protein interaction networks
    2007 O. Mason and R. Shorten (2007) Proc. American Control Conference, New York City, USA, July 11-13, 2007 Quadratic and Copositive Lyapunov Functions and the Stability of Positive Switched Linear System [Full-Text]
    2007 M. Verwoerd and O. Mason (2007) Proceedings of the American Control Conference, New York, 2007 Conditions for the Existence of Fixed Points in a Finite System of Coupled Oscillators [Full-Text]
    2005 Zeheb E. , Mason O. , Solmaz S. , and Shorten R. (2005) Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Symposium on, Mediterrean Conference on Control and Automation On the quadratic stability of switched interval systems: Preliminary results [Full-Text]
    2005 R. Shorten, O. Mason and K.Wulff (2005) LNCS 3355-Switching and Learning in Feedback Systems. European Summer School on Multi-Agent Control, Maynooth, Ireland, September 8-10, 2003 Convex cones, Lyapunov functions and the stability of switched linear systems [Full-Text]
    2005 M. Vilaplana, O. Mason, D. Leith and and W. Leithead (2005) LNCS 3355-Switching and Learning in Feedback Systems. European Summer School on Multi-Agent Control, Maynooth, Ireland, September 8-10, 2003 Control of yaw rate and sideslip in 4-wheel steering cars with actuator constraints [Full-Text]
    2005 P. Wellstead, O. Mason, W.T. O'Connor, K-H. Cho, E. Bullinger, O. Wolkenhauer, and S. Duncan (2005) Proc. Foundations of Systems Biology FOSBE 2005, August 7-10, Santa Barbara, CA, USA Towards a systems understanding of the cerebral motor circuit
    2004 O. Mason and R. Shorten (2004) IEEE Conference on Decision and Control Some results on the stability of positive switched linear systems [Full-Text]
    2004 Vilaplana,M., Mason.O., Leith, D.J., Leithead,W.E., Kalkkuhl, J., (2004) Proc. NOLCOS 2004, Stuttgart Nonlinear Control of Four-Wheel Steering Cars with Actuator Constraints [Full-Text]
    2004 L. Gurvits, R. Shorten and O. Mason (2004) Proc. Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems, Leuven Preliminary results on the stability of switched positive linear systems [Full-Text]
    2003 O. Mason and R. N. Shorten (2003) AMERICAN CONTROL CONFERENCE A conjecture on the existence of common quadratic Lyapunov functions for positive linear systems [Full-Text]
    2003 R. N. Shorten, O. Mason, F. Ó Cairbre and P. Curran (2003) EUROPEAN CONTROL CONFERENCE A unifying framework for the Circle Criterion and other quadratic stability criteria [Full-Text]
    2003 O. Mason and R.N. Shorten (2003) AMERICAN CONTROL CONFERENCE On common quadratic Lyapunov functions for pairs of stable discrete-time LTI systems
    2003 R. Shorten, K. S. Narendra, O. Mason and K. Wulff (2003) PROCEEDINGS OF 12TH YALE WORKSHOP ON ADAPTIVE AND LEARNING SYSTEMS On the existence of common quadratic Lyapunov functions for single input single output systems
    2002 Leith,D., Shorten,R., Leithead,W.E., Mason,O., Curran,P. (2002) Proc IFAC World Congress, Barcelona A Wind Turbine Benchmark for Hybrid System Analysis and Design [Full-Text]

    Conference Contribution

    Year Publication
    2009 (2009) Stability and D-stability for positive switched sy POSTA 2009 Valencia, Spain, .
    2009 (2009) Switched and Positive Systems Systems Biology Mini-Course Norwegian Univ. of Life Science, .

    Book Review

    Year Publication
    2008 P. Wellstead, E. Bullinger, D. Kalamatianos, O. Mason and M. Verwoerd (2008) The Role of Control and System Theory in Systems Biology. BREV [Full-Text]
    Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2023) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

    Committees

    Committee Function From / To
    International Workshop on Systems Biology Member of Organizing Committee 01/01/2006 -
    International Workshop on Systems Biology Member of Organizing Committee 01/01/2008 -
    Technical Programme Committee (TPC) member of International Symposium on Models and Algorithms for the World Wide Web Reviewer and Programme Committee Member 01/02/2014 - 01/07/2014
    Technical Programme Committee (TPC) member of International Symposium on Models and Algorithms for the World Wide Web Reviewer and Programme Committee Member 01/02/2016 - 01/07/2016
    Technical Programme Committee (TPC) member of International Symposium on Models and Algorithms for the World Wide Web Reviewer and Programme Committee Member 01/02/2018 - 01/07/2018
    Technical Programme Committee (TPC) member of International Symposium on Models and Algorithms for the World Wide Web Reviewer and Programme Committee Member 01/02/2015 - 01/07/2015
    Technical Programme Committee (TPC) for Privacy in Statistical Databases Reviewer and Programme Committee Member 01/02/2016 - 01/06/2016
    Technical Programme Committee for International Symposium on Positive Systems Reviewer and Programme Committee Member 01/01/2016 - 01/08/2016
    Technical Programme Committee (TPC) member of International Symposium on Models and Algorithms for the World Wide Web Reviewer and Programme Committee Member 01/03/2013 - 01/07/2013
    Hamilton Institute Workshop on Nonnegative matrices Member of Organizing Committee 01/01/2004 -
    Hamilton Institute Workshop on Nonnegative matrices Member of Organizing Committee 01/01/2008 -
    Technical Programme Committee (TPC) member of International Symposium on Models and Algorithms for the World Wide Web Reviewer and Programme Committee Member 01/02/2017 - 01/07/2017

    Teaching Interests

    I teach a variety of modules in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.  The modules I currently teach and have taught in the past include: Numerical Analysis; Mathematical Biology; Ordinary Differential Equations; Coding Theory; Differential Calculus; Abstract Algebra; and Foundations of Euclidean Geometry. 

    I am interested in combining theoretical material with practical computational implementations and have also taught on the graduate module HM811:"Computational Tools for Research" for a number of years.