Entrainment Versus Chaos in a Model for a Circadian Oscillator Driven by Light-Dark Cycles

Circadian rhythms occur in nearly all living organisms with a period close to 24 h. These rhythms constitute an important class of biological oscillators which present the characteristic of being naturally subjected to forcing by light-dark (LD) cycles. In order to investigate the conditions in which such a forcing might lead to chaos, we consider a model for a circadian limit cycle oscillator and assess its dynamic behavior when a light-sensitive parameter is periodically forced by LD cycles. We determine as a function of the forcing period and of the amplitude of the light-induced changes in the light-sensitive parameter the occurrence of various modes of dynamic behavior such as quasi-periodicity, entrainment, period-doubling and chaos. The type of oscillatory behavior markedly depends on the forcing waveform; thus the domain of entrainment grows at the expense of the domain of chaos as the forcing function progressively goes from a square wave to a sine wave. Also studied is the dependence of the phase of periodic or aperiodic oscillations on the amplitude of the light-induced changes in the control parameter. The results are discussed with respect to the main physiological role of circadian rhythms which is to allow organisms to adapt to their periodically varying environment by entrainment to the natural LD cycle.     

Phenomenology of neutrino oscillations

The phenomenology of solar, atmospheric, supernova and laboratory neutrino oscillations is described. Analytical formulae for matter effects are reviewed. The results from oscillations are confronted with neutrinoless double beta decay.     

Transmission of neutrinos through matter

Neutrinos travel through matter with negligible absorption except in very extreme situations. However, the index of refraction of neutrinos can play an important role in the oscillation of one type of neutrino to another when passing through matter.     

Lyapunov functions for a non-linear model of the X-ray bursting of the microquasar GRS 1915+105

This paper introduces a biparametric family of Lyapunov functions for a non-linear mathematical model based on the FitzHugh-Nagumo equations able to reproduce some main features of the X-ray bursting behaviour exhibited by the microquasar GRS 1915+105. These functions are useful to investigate the properties of equilibrium points and allow us to demonstrate a theorem on the global stability. The transition between bursting and stable behaviour is also analyzed.     

Liquid in a tube oscillating along its axis

The Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCM-D) sensing technique has become widely used to study various supported thin films and adsorption of biological macromolecules, nanoparticles, aggregates, and cells. Such sensing, based on tracking shear oscillations of a piezoelectric crystal, can be employed in situations which are far beyond conventional ones. For example, one can deposit tubes on the surface of a sensor, orient them along the direction of the sensor surface oscillations, and study liquid oscillations inside the oscillating tubes. Herein, we illustrate and classify theoretically the regimes of liquid oscillations in this case. In particular, we identify and scrutinize the transition from the regime with appreciable gradients along the radial coordinate, which are qualitatively similar to those near the oscillating flat interface, to the regime where the liquid oscillates nearly coherently in the whole tube. The results are not only of relevance for the specific case of nanotubes but also for studies of certain mesoporous samples.     

Dynamic behaviour of a discrete-time SIR model with information dependent vaccine uptake

This paper proposes and analyzes a discrete-time deterministic SIR model with information dependent immunization behaviour, where vaccination coverage at birth during any period of time is a general phenomenological function of the risk of infection that is perceived at the beginning of the period. Results on existence of equilibria, their local stability, and system persistence are proved. Then, by considering the noteworthy subcase of a piecewise linear ‘prevalence-dependent’ coverage function, the local stability of the endemic state is proved and conditions for its global asymptotic stability are given. Some insight on both Neimarck-Sacher and period-doubling bifurcations are provided. Overall we show that prevalence-dependent coverage is an essentially stabilising force. However period-doubling bifurcations are possible though under stressed parameter constellations.     

Optical Communication among Oscillatory Reactions and Photo-Excitable Systems: UV and Visible Radiation Can Synchronize Artificial Neuron Models

Neuromorphic engineering promises to have a revolutionary impact in our societies. A strategy to develop artificial neurons (ANs) is to use oscillatory and excitable chemical systems. Herein, we use UV and visible radiation as both excitatory and inhibitory signals for the communication among oscillatory reactions, such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky and the chemiluminescent Orban transformations, and photo-excitable photochromic and fluorescent species. We present the experimental results and the simulations regarding pairs of ANs communicating by either one or two optical signals, and triads of ANs arranged in both feed-forward and recurrent networks. We find that the ANs, powered chemically and/or by the energy of electromagnetic radiation, can give rise to the emergent properties of in-phase, out-of-phase, anti-phase synchronizations and phase-locking, dynamically mimicking the communication among real neurons.     

Large amplitude electron plasma oscillations

We consider a cold plasma in order to find new large-amplitude wave solutions in the long-wavelength limit. Accordingly we derive two generic coupled equations which describe the energy exchange between the electrostatic and electromagnetic waves. A new kind of quasi-periodic behavior is found. Our derivations may be considered as a prerequisite to extended studies of stimulated Raman scattering for cases where the wave amplitudes are so large that standard perturbation techniques are not applicable.     

Attractors of a rotating viscoelastic beam

We investigate the non-linear oscillations of a rotating viscoelastic beam with variable pitch angle. The governing equations of motion are two coupled partial differential equations for the longitudinal and transversal displacements. Using a perturbation technique and Galerkin's projection, we reduce the equations of motion to a non-autonomous ordinary differential equation. Our regular perturbation technique is based on the expansion of longitudinal displacement and the amplitude of first transversal mode in terms of a small parameter. We numerically generate the Poincaré maps of the reduced equations and reveal that the system exhibits regular and chaotic attractors. The regular attractors are stable limit-cycles that are relevant to stable, short-period oscillations of the beam. A bifurcation analysis has also been performed when the pitch angle is constant.     

Global Bifurcations and Chaotic Dynamics in Nonlinear Nonplanar Oscillations of a Parametrically Excited Cantilever Beam

This paper presents the analysis of the global bifurcations and chaotic dynamics for the nonlinear nonplanar oscillations of a cantilever beam subjected to a harmonic axial excitation and transverse excitations at the free end. The governing nonlinear equations of nonplanar motion with parametric and external excitations are obtained. The Galerkin procedure is applied to the partial differential governing equation to obtain a two-degree-of-freedom nonlinear system with parametric and forcing excitations. The resonant case considered here is 2:1 internal resonance, principal parametric resonance-1/2 subharmonic resonance for the in-plane mode and fundamental parametric resonance–primary resonance for the out-of-plane mode. The parametrically and externally excited system is transformed to the averaged equations by using the method of multiple scales. From the averaged equation obtained here, the theory of normal form is applied to find the explicit formulas of normal forms associated with a double zero and a pair of pure imaginary eigenvalues. Based on the normal form obtained above, a global perturbation method is utilized to analyze the global bifurcations and chaotic dynamics in the nonlinear nonplanar oscillations of the cantilever beam. The global bifurcation analysis indicates that there exist the heteroclinic bifurcations and the Silnikov type single-pulse homoclinic orbit in the averaged equation for the nonlinear nonplanar oscillations of the cantilever beam. These results show that the chaotic motions can occur in the nonlinear nonplanar oscillations of the cantilever beam. Numerical simulations verify the analytical predictions.