@article{ZakharovaVadivasovaAnishchenkoetal.2010,
  author    = {Zakharova, Anna and Vadivasova, Tatjana and Anishchenko, Vadim S. and Koseska, Aneta and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen},
  title     = {Stochastic bifurcations and coherencelike resonance in a self-sustained bistable noisy oscillator},
  issn      = {1539-3755},
  doi       = {10.1103/Physreve.81.011106},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {We investigate the influence of additive Gaussian white noise on two different bistable self-sustained oscillators: Duffing-Van der Pol oscillator with hard excitation and a model of a synthetic genetic oscillator. In the deterministic case, both oscillators are characterized with a coexistence of a stable limit cycle and a stable equilibrium state. We find that under the influence of noise, their dynamics can be well characterized through the concept of stochastic bifurcation, consisting in a qualitative change of the stationary amplitude distribution. For the Duffing-Van der Pol oscillator analytical results, obtained for a quasiharmonic approach, are compared with the result of direct computer simulations. In particular, we show that the dynamics is different for isochronous and anisochronous systems. Moreover, we find that the increase of noise intensity in the isochronous regime leads to a narrowing of the spectral line. This effect is similar to coherence resonance. However, in the case of anisochronous systems, this effect breaks down and a new phenomenon, anisochronous-based stochastic bifurcation occurs.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SchmidtZamoraLopezKurths2010,
  author    = {Schmidt, G. and Zamora-Lopez, Gorka and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen},
  title     = {Simulation of large scale cortical networks by individual neuron dynamics},
  issn      = {0218-1274},
  doi       = {10.1142/S0218127410026149},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {Understanding the functional dynamics of the mammalian brain is one of the central aims of modern neuroscience. Mathematical modeling and computational simulations of neural networks can help in this quest. In recent publications, a multilevel model has been presented to simulate the resting-state dynamics of the cortico-cortical connectivity of the mammalian brain. In the present work we investigate how much of the dynamical behavior of the multilevel model can be reproduced by a strongly simplified model. We find that replacing each cortical area by a single Rulkov map recreates the patterns of dynamical correlation of the multilevel model, while the outcome of other models and setups mainly depends on the local network properties, e. g. the input degree of each vertex. In general, we find that a simple simulation whose dynamics depends on the global topology of the whole network is far from trivial. A systematic analysis of different dynamical models and coupling setups is required.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BraunDitlevsenKurthsetal.2010,
  author    = {Braun, Holger and Ditlevsen, Peter D. and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen and Mudelsee, Manfred},
  title     = {Limitations of red noise in analysing Dansgaard-Oeschger events},
  issn      = {1814-9324},
  doi       = {10.5194/cp-6-85-2010},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {During the last glacial period, climate records from the North Atlantic region exhibit a pronounced spectral component corresponding to a period of about 1470 years, which has attracted much attention. This spectral peak is closely related to the recurrence pattern of Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events. In previous studies a red noise random process, more precisely a first-order autoregressive (AR1) process, was used to evaluate the statistical significance of this peak, with a reported significance of more than 99\%. Here we use a simple mechanistic two-state model of DO events, which itself was derived from a much more sophisticated ocean-atmosphere model of intermediate complexity, to numerically evaluate the spectral properties of random (i.e., solely noise-driven) events. This way we find that the power spectral density of random DO events differs fundamentally from a simple red noise random process. These results question the applicability of linear spectral analysis for estimating the statistical significance of highly non-linear processes such as DO events. More precisely, to enhance our scientific understanding about the trigger of DO events, we must not consider simple "straw men" as, for example, the AR1 random process, but rather test against realistic alternative descriptions.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HellandGapelyukSuhrbieretal.2010,
  author    = {Helland, Vanessa Carolina Figuera and Gapelyuk, Andrej and Suhrbier, Alexander and Riedl, Maik and Penzel, Thomas and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen and Wessel, Niels},
  title     = {Investigation of an automatic sleep stage classification by means of multiscorer hypnogram},
  issn      = {0026-1270},
  doi       = {10.3414/Me09-02-0052},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {Objectives: Scoring sleep visually based on polysomnography is an important but time-consuming element of sleep medicine. Where-as computer software assists human experts in the assignment of sleep stages to polysomnogram epochs, their performance is usually insufficient. This study evaluates the possibility to fully automatize sleep staging considering the reliability of the sleep stages available from human expert sleep scorers. Methods: We obtain features from EEG, ECG and respiratory signals of polysomnograms from ten healthy subjects. Using the sleep stages provided by three human experts, we evaluate the performance of linear discriminant analysis on the entire polysomnogram and:only on epochs where the three experts agree in their-sleep stage scoring. Results: We show that in polysomnogram intervals, to which all three scorers assign the same sleep stage, our algorithm achieves 90\% accuracy. This high rate of agreement with the human experts is accomplished with only a small set of three frequency features from the EEG. We increase-the performance to 93\% by including ECG and respiration features. In contrast, on intervals of ambiguous sleep stage, the sleep stage classification obtained from our algorithm, agrees with the human consensus scorer in approximately 61\%. Conclusions: These findings suggest that machine classification is highly consistent with human sleep staging and that error in the algorithm's assignments is rather a problem of lack of well-defined criteria for human experts to judge certain polysomnogram epochs than an insufficiency of computational procedures},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WuZhouChenetal.2010,
  author    = {Wu, Ye and Zhou, Changsong and Chen, Maoyin and Xiao, Jinghua and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen},
  title     = {Human comment dynamics in on-line social systems},
  issn      = {0378-4371},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.physa.2010.08.049},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {Human comment is studied using data from 'tianya' which is one of the most popular on-line social systems in China. We found that the time interval between two consecutive comments on the same topic, called inter-event time, follows a power-law distribution. This result shows that there is no characteristic decay time on a topic. It allows for very long periods without comments that separate bursts of intensive comments. Furthermore, the frequency of a different ID commenting on a topic also follows a power-law distribution. It indicates that there are some "hubs" in the topic who lead the direction of the public opinion. Based on the personal comments habit, a model is introduced to explain these phenomena. The numerical simulations of the model fit well with the empirical results. Our findings are helpful for discovering regular patterns of human behavior in on-line society and the evolution of the public opinion on the virtual as well as real society.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SureshSenthilkumarLakshmananetal.2010,
  author    = {Suresh, R. and Senthilkumar, Dharmapuri Vijayan and Lakshmanan, Muthusamy and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen},
  title     = {Global phase synchronization in an array of time-delay systems},
  issn      = {1539-3755},
  doi       = {10.1103/Physreve.82.016215},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {We report the identification of global phase synchronization (GPS) in a linear array of unidirectionally coupled Mackey-Glass time-delay systems exhibiting highly non-phase-coherent chaotic attractors with complex topological structure. In particular, we show that the dynamical organization of all the coupled time-delay systems in the array to form GPS is achieved by sequential synchronization as a function of the coupling strength. Further, the asynchronous ones in the array with respect to the main sequentially synchronized cluster organize themselves to form clusters before they achieve synchronization with the main cluster. We have confirmed these results by estimating instantaneous phases including phase difference, average phase, average frequency, frequency ratio, and their differences from suitably transformed phase coherent attractors after using a nonlinear transformation of the original non-phase-coherent attractors. The results are further corroborated using two other independent approaches based on recurrence analysis and the concept of localized sets from the original non-phase-coherent attractors directly without explicitly introducing the measure of phase.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WuZhouXiaoetal.2010,
  author    = {Wu, Ye Wu and Zhou, Changsong and Xiao, Jinghua and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen and Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim},
  title     = {Evidence for a bimodal distribution in human communication},
  issn      = {0027-8424},
  doi       = {10.1073/pnas.1013140107},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {Interacting human activities underlie the patterns of many social, technological, and economic phenomena. Here we present clear empirical evidence from Short Message correspondence that observed human actions are the result of the interplay of three basic ingredients: Poisson initiation of tasks and decision making for task execution in individual humans as well as interaction among individuals. This interplay leads to new types of interevent time distribution, neither completely Poisson nor power-law, but a bimodal combination of them. We show that the events can be separated into independent bursts which are generated by frequent mutual interactions in short times following random initiations of communications in longer times by the individuals. We introduce a minimal model of two interacting priority queues incorporating the three basic ingredients which fits well the distributions using the parameters extracted from the empirical data. The model can also embrace a range of realistic social interacting systems such as e-mail and letter communications when taking the time scale of processing into account. Our findings provide insight into various human activities both at the individual and network level. Our analysis and modeling of bimodal activity in human communication from the viewpoint of the interplay between processes of different time scales is likely to shed light on bimodal phenomena in other complex systems, such as interevent times in earthquakes, rainfall, forest fire, and economic systems, etc.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{VincentKenfackSenthilkumaretal.2010,
  author    = {Vincent, Uchechukwu E. and Kenfack, Anatole and Senthilkumar, Dharmapuri Vijayan and Mayer, Dieter and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen},
  title     = {Current reversals and synchronization in coupled ratchets},
  issn      = {1539-3755},
  doi       = {10.1103/Physreve.82.046208},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {Current reversal is an intriguing phenomenon that has been central to recent experimental and theoretical investigations of transport based on ratchet mechanism. By considering a system of two interacting ratchets, we demonstrate how the coupling can be used to control the reversals. In particular, we find that current reversal that exists in a single driven ratchet system can ultimately be eliminated with the presence of a second ratchet. For specific coupling strengths a current-reversal free regime has been detected. Furthermore, in the fully synchronized state characterized by the coupling threshold k(th), a specific driving amplitude a(opt) is found for which the transport is optimum.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ChenShiauTsengetal.2010,
  author    = {Chen, Jin-Long and Shiau, Yuo-Hsien and Tseng, Yin-Jiun and Chiu, Hung-Wen and Hsiao, Tzu-Chien and Wessel, Niels and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen and Chu, Woei-Chyn},
  title     = {Concurrent sympathetic activation and vagal withdrawal in hyperthyroidism : evidence from detrended fluctuation analysis of heart rate variability},
  issn      = {0378-4371},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.physa.2009.12.062},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {Despite many previous Studies on the association between hyperthyroidism and the hyperadrenergic state, controversies still exist. Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) is a well recognized method in the nonlinear analysis of heart rate variability (HRV), and it has physiological significance related to the autonomic nervous system. In particular, an increased short-term scaling exponent alpha 1 calculated from DFA is associated with both increased sympathetic activity and decreased vagal activity. No study has investigated the DFA of HRV in hyperthyroidism. This study was designed to assess the sympathovagal balance in hyperthyroidism. We performed the DFA along with the linear analysis of HRV in 36 hyperthyroid Graves' disease patients (32 females and 4 males; age 30 +/- 1 years, means +/- SE) and 36 normal controls matched by sex, age and body mass index. Compared with the normal controls, the hyperthyroid patients revealed a significant increase (P < 0.001) in alpha 1 (hyperthyroid 1.28 +/- 0.04 versus control 0.91 +/- 0.02), long-term scaling exponent alpha 2 (1.05 +/- 0.02 versus 0.90 +/- 0.01), overall scaling exponent alpha (1.11 +/- 0.02 versus 0.89 +/- 0.01), low frequency power in normalized units (LF\%) and the ratio of low frequency power to high frequency power (LF/HF); and a significant decrease (P < 0.001) in the standard deviation of the R-R intervals (SDNN) and high frequency power (HF). In conclusion, hyperthyroidism is characterized by concurrent sympathetic activation and vagal withdrawal. This sympathovagal imbalance state in hyperthyroidism helps to explain the higher prevalence of atrial fibrillation and exercise intolerance among hyperthyroid patients.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SenthilkumarKurths2010,
  author    = {Senthilkumar, Dharmapuri Vijayan and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen},
  title     = {Characteristics and synchronization of time-delay systems driven by a common noise},
  issn      = {1951-6355},
  doi       = {10.1140/epjst/e2010-01273-4},
  year      = {2010},
  abstract  = {We investigate the characteristics of time-delay systems in the presence of Gaussian noise. We show that the delay time embedded in the time series of time-delay system with constant delay cannot be estimated in the presence noise for appropriate values of noise intensity thereby forbidding any possibility of phase space reconstruction. We also demonstrate the existence of complete synchronization between two independent identical time-delay systems driven by a common noise without explicitly establishing any external coupling between them.},
  language  = {en}
}