@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{MotterZhouKurths2005, author = {Motter, Adilson E. and Zhou, Changsong and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Enhancing complex-network synchronization}, issn = {0295-5075}, year = {2005}, abstract = {Heterogeneity in the degree (connectivity) distribution has been shown to suppress synchronization in networks of symmetrically coupled oscillators with uniform coupling strength (unweighted coupling). Here we uncover a condition for enhanced synchronization in weighted networks with asymmetric coupling. We show that, in the optimum regime, synchronizability is solely determined by the average degree and does not depend on the system size and the details of the degree distribution. In scale-free networks, where the average degree may increase with heterogeneity, synchronizability is drastically enhanced and may become positively correlated with heterogeneity, while the overall cost involved in the network coupling is significantly reduced as compared to the case of unwcighted coupling}, language = {en} } @article{MotterZhouKurths2005, author = {Motter, Adilson E. and Zhou, Changsong and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Network synchronization, diffusion, and the paradox of heterogeneity}, issn = {1063-651X}, year = {2005}, abstract = {Many complex networks display strong heterogeneity in the degree (connectivity) distribution. Heterogeneity in the degree distribution often reduces the average distance between nodes but, paradoxically, may suppress synchronization in networks of oscillators coupled symmetrically with uniform coupling strength. Here we offer a solution to this apparent paradox. Our analysis is partially based on the identification of a diffusive process underlying the communication between oscillators and reveals a striking relation between this process and the condition for the linear stability of the synchronized states. We show that, for a given degree distribution, the maximum synchronizability is achieved when the network of couplings is weighted and directed and the overall cost involved in the couplings is minimum. This enhanced synchronizability is solely determined by the mean degree and does not depend on the degree distribution and system size. Numerical verification of the main results is provided for representative classes of small-world and scale-free networks}, language = {en} } @article{ZhouKurths2005, author = {Zhou, Changsong and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Noise-sustained and controlled synchronization of stirred excitable media by external forcing}, issn = {1367-2630}, year = {2005}, abstract = {Most of the previous studies on constructive effects of noise in spatially extended systems have focused on static media, e.g., of the reaction diffusion type. Because many active chemical or biological processes occur in a fluid environment with mixing, we investigate here the interplay among noise, excitability, mixing and external forcing in excitable media advected by a chaotic flow, in a two-dimensional FitzHugh-Nagumo model described by a set of reaction- advection-diffusion equations. In the absence of external forcing, noise may generate sustained coherent oscillations of the media in a range of noise intensities and stirring rates. We find that these noise-sustained oscillations can be synchronized by external periodic signals much smaller than the threshold. Analysis of the locking regions in the parameter space of the signal period, stirring rate and noise intensity reveals that the mechanism underlying the synchronization behaviour is a matching between the time scales of the forcing signal and the noise-sustained oscillations. The results demonstrate that, in the presence of a suitable level of noise, the stirred excitable media act as self-sustained oscillatory systems and become much easier to be entrained by weak external forcing. Our results may be verified in experiments and are useful to understand the synchronization of population dynamics of oceanic ecological systems by annual cycles}, language = {en} } @article{GamezZhouTimmermannetal.2004, author = {Gamez, A. J. and Zhou, Changsong and Timmermann, A. and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Nonlinear dimensionality reduction in climate data}, issn = {1023-5809}, year = {2004}, abstract = {Linear methods of dimensionality reduction are useful tools for handling and interpreting high dimensional data. However, the cumulative variance explained by each of the subspaces in which the data space is decomposed may show a slow convergence that makes the selection of a proper minimum number of subspaces for successfully representing the variability of the process ambiguous. The use of nonlinear methods can improve the embedding of multivariate data into lower dimensional manifolds. In this article, a nonlinear method for dimensionality reduction, Isomap, is applied to the sea surface temperature and thermocline data in the tropical Pacific Ocean, where the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon and the annual cycle phenomena interact. Isomap gives a more accurate description of the manifold dimensionality of the physical system. The knowledge of the minimum number of dimensions is expected to improve the development of low dimensional models for understanding and predicting ENSO}, language = {en} } @article{ZhouKurths2004, author = {Zhou, Changsong and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Resonant patterns in noisy active media}, issn = {1063-651X}, year = {2004}, abstract = {We investigate noise-controlled resonant response of active media to weak periodic forcing, both in excitable and oscillatory regimes. In the excitable regime, we find that noise-induced irregular wave structures can be reorganized into frequency-locked resonant patterns by weak signals with suitable frequencies. The resonance occurs due to a matching condition between the signal frequency and the noise-induced inherent time scale of the media. m:1 resonant regions similar to the Arnold tongues in frequency locking of self-sustained oscillatory media are observed. In the self-sustained oscillatory regime, noise also controls the oscillation frequency and reshapes significantly the Arnold tongues. The combination of noise and weak signal thus could provide an efficient tool to manipulate active extended systems in experiments}, language = {en} } @article{SteuerZhouKurths2003, author = {Steuer, Ralf and Zhou, Changsong and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Constructive effects of fluctuations in genetic and biochemical regulatory systems}, issn = {0303-2647}, year = {2003}, abstract = {Biochemical and genetic regulatory systems that involve low concentrations of molecules are inherently noisy. This intrinsic stochasticity, has received considerable interest recently, leading to new insights about the sources and consequences of noise in complex systems of genetic regulation. However, most prior work was devoted to the reduction of fluctuation and the robustness of cellular function with respect to intrinsic noise. Here, we focus on several scenarios in which the inherent molecular fluctuations are not merely a nuisance, but act constructively and bring about qualitative changes in the dynamics of the system. It will be demonstrated that in many typical situations biochemical and genetic regulatory systems may utilize intrinsic noise to their advantage. (C) 2002 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved}, language = {en} } @article{ZhouKurths2006, author = {Zhou, Changsong and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Dynamical weights and enhanced synchronization in adaptive complex networks}, doi = {10.1103/Physrevlett.96.164102}, year = {2006}, abstract = {Dynamical organization of connection weights is studied in scale-free networks of chaotic oscillators, where the coupling strength of a node from its neighbors develops adaptively according to the local synchronization property between the node and its neighbors. We find that when complete synchronization is achieved, the coupling strength becomes weighted and correlated with the topology due to a hierarchical transition to synchronization in heterogeneous networks. Importantly, such an adaptive process enhances significantly the synchronizability of the networks, which could have meaningful implications in the manipulation of dynamical networks}, language = {en} } @article{ZhouMotterKurths2006, author = {Zhou, Changsong and Motter, Adilson E. and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Universality in the synchronization of weighted random networks}, doi = {10.1103/Physrevlett.96.034101}, year = {2006}, abstract = {Realistic networks display not only a complex topological structure, but also a heterogeneous distribution of weights in the connection strengths. Here we study synchronization in weighted complex networks and show that the synchronizability of random networks with a large minimum degree is determined by two leading parameters: the mean degree and the heterogeneity of the distribution of node's intensity, where the intensity of a node, defined as the total strength of input connections, is a natural combination of topology and weights. Our results provide a possibility for the control of synchronization in complex networks by the manipulation of a few parameters}, language = {en} } @article{BaptistaZhouKurths2006, author = {Baptista, Murilo da Silva and Zhou, Changsong and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Information transmission in phase synchronous chaotic arrays}, issn = {0256-307X}, doi = {10.1088/0256-307X/23/3/010}, year = {2006}, abstract = {We show many versatile phase synchronous configurations that emerge in an array of coupled chaotic elements due to the presence of a periodic stimulus. Then, we explain the relevance of these configurations to the understanding of how information about such a. stimulus is transmitted from one side to the other in this array. The stimulus actively creates the ways to be transmitted, by making the chaotic elements to phase synchronize}, language = {en} }