Emergence and criticality in spatiotemporal synchronization: the complementarity model

This work concerns the long-term dynamics of a spatiotemporal many-body deterministic model that exhibits emergence and self-organization, and which has been recently proposed as a new paradigm for Artificial Life. Collective structures emerge in the form of dynamic networks, created by bursts of spatiotemporal activity (avalanches) at the edge of a synchronization phase transition. The spatiotemporal dynamics is portraited by a motion picture and quantified by time varying collective parameters, which revealed that the dynamic networks undergo a "life cycle", made of self-creation, self-regulation, and self-destruction. The power spectra of the collective parameters show 1/f power-law tails, and the statistical properties of the avalanches, evaluated in terms of their size and durations, show power laws with characteristic exponents in agreement with those values found in the literature concerning neural networks. The mechanism underlying avalanches is discussed in terms of local-to-collective excitability. Finally, the connections that link the present work to self-organized criticality, neural networks and artificial life are discussed

A mesoscopic model for the collective dynamics of water coherence domains

This work deals with a mesoscopic and deterministic theory for the collective dynamics of Water Coherence Domains, and it represents a continuation of a previous work published in Plos ONE https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0188753 This approach qualitatively reproduces some features of the experimental phenomenology, and it could sustain an evolutionary theory based on layered synchronization processes. Its relevance for the description of the processes behind the emergence of life is discussed

Dynamic Modeling of the Electric Transportation Network

We introduce a model for the dynamic self-organization of the electric grid. The model is characterized by a conserved magnitude, energy, that can travel following the links of the network to satisfy nodes' load. The load fluctuates in time causing local overloads that drive the dynamic evolution of the network topology. Our model displays a transition from a fully connected network to a configuration with a non-trivial topology and where global failures are suppressed. The most efficient topology is characterized by an exponential degree distribution, in agreement with the topology of the real electric grid. The model intrinsically presents self-induced break-down events, which can be thought as representative of real black-outs.Comment: (e.g. 7 pages, 5 figures

The emergence of dynamic networks from many coupled polar oscillators. A model for Artificial Life

This work concerns a many-body deterministic model that displays life-like properties as emergence, complexity, self-organization, spontaneous compartmentalization, and self-regulation. The model portraits the dynamics of an ensemble of locally coupled polar phase oscillators, moving in a two-dimensional space, that in certain conditions exhibit emergent superstructures. Those superstructures are self-organized dynamic networks, resulting from a synchronization process of many units, over length scales much greater than the interaction length. Such networks compartmentalize the two-dimensional space with no a priori constraints, due to the formation of porous transport walls, and represent a highly complex and novel non-linear behavior. The analysis is numerically carried out as a function of a control parameter showing distinct regimes: static, stable dynamic networks, intermittency, and chaos. A statistical analysis is drawn to determine the control parameter ranges for the various behaviors to appear.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures and 4 movie

Theory of collective firing induced by noise or diversity in excitable media

5 pages.-- PACS numbers: 05.45.Xt, 05.40.-a, 02.50.-r.-- Final full-text of the paper available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.75.016203.Large variety of physical, chemical, and biological systems show excitable behavior, characterized by a nonlinear response under external perturbations: only perturbations exceeding a threshold induce a full system response (firing). It has been reported that in coupled excitable identical systems noise may induce the simultaneous firing of a macroscopic fraction of units. However, a comprehensive understanding of the role of noise and that of natural diversity present in realistic systems is still lacking. Here we develop a theory for the emergence of collective firings in nonidentical excitable systems subject to noise. Three different dynamical regimes arise: subthreshold motion, where all elements remain confined near the fixed point; coherent pulsations, where a macroscopic fraction fire simultaneously; and incoherent pulsations, where units fire in a disordered fashion. We also show that the mechanism for collective firing is generic: it arises from degradation of entrainment originated either by noise or by diversity.The authors acknowledge financial support by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain), FEDER Contract Nos. FIS2004-5073, FIS2004-953, BFM2001-0341 and the EU NoE BioSim (LSHB-CT-2004-005137)

Dinámica de láseres de semiconductor en el IFISC

We present here a brief overview of the main topics studied in the Institute for Cross Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC) within the context of semiconductor laser dynamics. In particular we study nonlinear effects and chaos in edge emitting lasers, feedback and delay effects, dynamics of coupled lasers and multimode dynamics in ring cavity lasers, with the perspective of possible applications in information and communication technologies.We acknowledge financial support from the European Commission Projects PICASSO Grant IST-2005-34551, PHOCUS Grant FP7-ICT-2009-C- 240763 and IOLOS Grant FP6-IST-2005-34743 and from MICINN (Spain) and FEDER (EU) through Projects TEC2006-1009/MIC (PhoDECC), TEC2009-14101 (DeCoDicA) and FIS2007-60327 (FISICOS). A.P. acknowledges financial support from the Govern BalearPeer reviewe

Phase Synchronization and Polarization Ordering of Globally-Coupled Oscillators

We introduce a prototype model for globally-coupled oscillators in which each element is given an oscillation frequency and a preferential oscillation direction (polarization), both randomly distributed. We found two collective transitions: to phase synchronization and to polarization ordering. Introducing a global-phase and a polarization order parameters, we show that the transition to global-phase synchrony is found when the coupling overcomes a critical value and that polarization order enhancement can not take place before global-phase synchrony. We develop a self-consistent theory to determine both order parameters in good agreement with numerical results

Numerical investigation of semiconductor ring lasers with two external cavities

4 pages, 4 figures.-- In Proceedings Symposium IEEE/LEOS Benelux Chapter, 2008, Twente.-- PDF pre-print.We report results on the numerical analysis of the behaviour of a semiconductor ring laser under the influence of feedback from two external cavities. Double feedback arises naturally in a semiconductor ring laser, e.g. at the end facets of an outcoupling waveguide. We find that, under certain conditions, the system displays quasi-periodic and chaotic behavior.This work has been partially funded by the European Community under project IST-2005-34743 (IOLOS). This work was supported by the Belgian Science Policy Office under grant No. IAP-VI10, by the Spanish Ministry of Education (MEC) and FEDER under grants No. FIS2004-00953 (CONOCE2). GV, LG and IVE acknowledge grant and project support of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). IVE acknowledges advice by V. Z. Tronciu. AS acknowledges the Ramon y Cajal program by MEC.Peer reviewe

Tongue stretching: technique and clinical proposal.

Abstract Objectives The tongue is an organ with multiple functions, from sucking to phonation, from swallowing to postural control and equilibrium. An incorrect position or mechanics of the tongue can causes sucking problems in the newborn or atypical swallowing in the adult, with repercussions on the position of the head and neck, up to influencing upright posture and other problems. Tongue dysfunctions are quite frequent (10–15%) in the population. For the manual therapist, this frequency indicates one to two subjects every 30 patients. Exercises have been proposed to improve the tone and strength of the swallowing muscles but the results are not so clear in the literature. The aim of this study is to describe and provide a tongue muscle normalization technique that helps the manual therapist in the treatment of problems related to it. Methods The literature has been investigated through pubmed, Google scholar of the last 10 years, the keywords used and combined with the Boolean operators AND and OR, are: "tongue, tongue habits, tongue diseases, taste disorder, neck pain, posture, postural balance, atypical swallowing, muscle stretching exercise, tissue expansion, soft tissue therapy, osteopathic manipulative treatment". Results and Conclusions The technique is possible to be executed even in a sitting position, in the case the patient is unable to assume a supine position, the subject should provides immediate feedback that allows the therapist to understand if the technique has been correctly executed. The simplicity of execution and application of the technique makes it a possible and immediate therapeutic tool in the clinical setting

Evaluation of the Synovial Effects of Biological and Targeted Synthetic DMARDs in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

The aims of this systematic literature review (SLR) were to identify the effects of approved biological and targeted synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (b/tsDMARDs) on synovial membrane of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients, and to determine the existence of histological/molecular biomarkers of response to therapy. A search was conducted on MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane Library (PROSPERO:CRD42022304986) to retrieve data on longitudinal change of biomarkers in paired synovial biopsies and in vitro studies. A meta-analysis was conducted by adopting the standardized mean difference (SMD) as a measure of the effect. Twenty-two studies were included (19 longitudinal, 3 in vitro). In longitudinal studies, TNF inhibitors were the most used drugs, while, for in vitro studies, JAK inhibitors or adalimumab/secukinumab were assessed. The main technique used was immunohistochemistry (longitudinal studies). The meta-analysis showed a significant reduction in both CD3+ lymphocytes (SMD -0.85 [95% CI -1.23; -0.47]) and CD68+ macrophages (sublining, sl) (SMD -0.74 [-1.16; -0.32]) in synovial biopsies from patients treated for 4-12 weeks with bDMARDs. Reduction in CD3+ mostly correlated with clinical response. Despite heterogeneity among the biomarkers evaluated, the reduction in CD3+/CD68+sl cells during the first 3 months of treatment with TNF inhibitors represents the most consistent variation reported in the literature