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The heart beats are due to the synchronized contraction of cardiomyocytes triggered by a periodic sequence of electrical signals called action potentials, which originate in the sinoatrial node and spread through the heart's electrical system. A large body of work is devoted to modeling the propagation of the action potential and to reproducing reliably its shape and duration. Connection of computational modeling of cells to macroscopic phenomenological curves such as the electrocardiogram has been also intense, due to its clinical importance in analyzing cardiovascular diseases. In this work, we simulate the dynamics of action potential propagation using the three-variable Fenton–Karma model that can account for both normal and damaged cells through a the spatially inhomogeneous voltage diffusion coefficient. We monitor the action potential propagation in the cardiac tissue and calculate the pseudo-electrocardiogram that reproduces the R and T waves. The R-wave amplitude varies according to a double exponential law as a function of the (spatially homogeneous, for an isotropic tissue) diffusion coefficient. The addition of spatial inhomogeneity in the diffusion coefficient by means of a defected region representing damaged cardiac cells may result in T-wave inversion in the calculated pseudo-electrocardiogram. The transition from positive to negative polarity of the T-wave is analyzed as a function of the length and the depth of the defected region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We implement and use quantum neural networks that exploit bit-flip quantum error-correcting codes that correct bit-flip errors in arbitrary logical qubit states. We introduce conjugate layer quantum autoencoders and use them in order to restore states impacted by amplitude damping through the utilization of an approximative four-qubit error-correcting codeword. Our specific implementation avoids barren plateaus of the cost function and improves the training time. Moreover, we propose a strategy that allows one to discover new encryption protocols tailored for specific quantum channels. This is exemplified by learning to generate logical qubits explicitly for the bit-flip channel. Our modified quantum neural networks consistently outperform the standard implementations across all tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nonlinear dimer obtained through the nonlinear Schrödinger equation has been a workhorse for the discovery the role nonlinearity plays in strongly interacting systems. While the analysis of the stationary states demonstrates the onset of a symmetry broken state for some degree of nonlinearity, the full dynamics maps the system into an effective ϕ 4 model. In this later context, the self-trapping transition is an initial condition-dependent transfer of a classical particle over a barrier set by the nonlinear term. This transition that has been investigated analytically and mathematically is expressed through the hyperbolic limit of Jacobian elliptic functions. The aim of this work is to recapture this transition through the use of methods of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Specifically, we used a physics motivated machine learning model that is shown to be able to capture the original dynamic self-trapping transition and its dependence on initial conditions. Exploitation of this result in the case of the nondegenerate nonlinear dimer gives additional information on the more general dynamics and helps delineate linear from nonlinear localization. This work shows how AI methods may be embedded in physics and provide useful tools for discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) is a highly nonlinear oscillator with rich dynamical behavior, including chaos. When driven by a time-periodic magnetic flux, the SQUID exhibits extreme multistability at frequencies around the geometric resonance, which is manifested by a "snakelike" form of the resonance curve. Repeating motifs of SQUIDs form metamaterials, i.e., artificially structured media of weakly coupled discrete elements that exhibit extraordinary properties, e.g., negative diamagnetic permeability. We report on the emergent collective dynamics in two-dimensional lattices of coupled SQUID oscillators, which involves a rich menagerie of spatiotemporal dynamics, including Turing-like patterns and chimera states. Using Fourier analysis, we characterize these patterns and identify characteristic spatial and temporal periods. In the low coupling limit, the Turing-like patterns occur near the synchronization-desynchronization transition, which can be related to the bifurcation scenarios of the single SQUID. Chimeras emerge due to the multistability near the geometric resonance, and by varying the dc component of the external force, we can make them appear and reappear and, also, control their location. A detailed analysis of the parameter space reveals the coexistence of Turing-like patterns and chimera states in our model, as well as the ability to transform between these states by varying the system parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cutaneous toxicities from novel anticancer treatments are an emerging problem in dermato-oncology. However, the prevalence of those toxicities and necessity of skin consultations are currently unknown. The purpose of our study was to perform an epidemiologic analysis of cutaneous toxicities that were referred to our cutaneous toxicity clinic in Athens, Greece.Methods: All patients examined at the oncodermatology department over a 42-month period were included. Gender, age, type of cancer, type of antineoplastic treatment, and type of toxicity were recorded and analyzed.Results: Four hundred fifty-nine patients (182 males, 277 females) with mean age (SD) 60.6 years (13.05) were included in the analysis. Six hundred seventy-two cutaneous toxicities were recorded. Chemotherapy-induced toxicities were the most commonly recorded incidents, with taxanes being the most commonly involved agent. Immune-related adverse events (IRAEs) have steadily increased over the past 3 years. Treatment modifications due to skin toxicities were more common in patients treated with targeted agents and immune checkpoint inhibitors than in those treated with chemotherapy. The toxicities that led to the most treatment modifications were acneiform eruptions and perionychias. The most common IRAEs recorded were psoriasis in 11 patients, followed by pruritus, macular rash, and lichenoid-type eruptions. In addition, 4 interesting cases of IRAEs are discussed.Conclusion: Antineoplastic treatments can lead to a wide range of cutaneous toxicities. Our study underlines the need for a multidisciplinary approach in oncologic patients. The dermatologists' role is crucial in effectively managing those reactions and preventing antineoplastic drug dose adjustments or discontinuation of treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The radio frequency (rf) Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) is a highly nonlinear oscillator exhibiting the rich dynamical behavior. It has been studied for many years and it has found numerous applications in magnetic field sensors, in biomagnetism, in non-destructive evaluation, and gradiometers, among others. Despite its theoretical and practical importance, there is relatively very little work on its multistability, chaotic properties, and bifurcation structure. In the present work, the dynamical properties of the SQUID in the strongly nonlinear regime are demonstrated using a well-established model whose parameters lie in the experimentally accessible range of values. When driven by a time-periodic (ac) flux either with or without a constant (dc) bias, the SQUID exhibits extreme multistability at frequencies around the (geometric) resonance. This effect is manifested by a “snake-like” form of the resonance curve. In the presence of both ac and dc flux, multiple bifurcation sequences and secondary resonance branches appear at frequencies above and below the geometric resonance. In the latter case, the SQUID exhibits chaotic behavior in large regions of the parameter space; it is also found that the state of the SQUID can be switched from chaotic to periodic or vice versa by a slight variation of the dc flux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene as well as more generally Dirac solids constitute two-dimensional materials where the electronic flow is ultra-relativistic. When a Dirac solid is deposited on a different substrate surface with roughness, a local random potential develops through an inhomogeneous charge impurity distribution. This external potential affects profoundly the charge flow and induces a chaotic pattern of current branches that develops through focusing and defocusing effects produced by the randomness of the surface. An additional bias voltage may be used to tune the branching pattern of the charge carrier currents. We employ analytical and numerical techniques in order to investigate the onset and the statistical properties of carrier branches in Dirac solids. We find a specific scaling-type relationship that connects the physical scale for the occurrence of branches with the characteristic medium properties, such as disorder and bias field. We use numerics to test and verify the theoretical prediction as well as a perturbative approach that gives a clear indication of the regime of validity of the approach. This work is relevant to device applications and may be tested experimentally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

$${\mathcal {PT}}$$ -symmetric dimers with a time-periodic gain/loss function in a balanced configuration where the amount of gain equals that of loss are investigated analytically and numerically. Two prototypical dimers in the linear regime are investigated: a system of coupled classical oscillators, and a Schrödinger dimer representing the coupling of field amplitudes, each system representing a wide class of physical models. Through a thorough analysis of their stability behavior, we find that turning on the coupling parameter in the classical dimer system leads initially to decreased stability but then to re-entrant transitions from the exact to the broken $${\mathcal {PT}}$$ -phase and vice versa, as it is increased beyond a critical value. On the other hand, the Schrödinger dimer behaves more like a single oscillator with time-periodic gain/loss. In addition, we are able to identify the conditions under which the behavior of the two dimer systems coincides and/or reduces to that of a single oscillator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planar arrays of magnetoinductively coupled rf SQUIDs (Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices) belong to the emergent class of superconducting metamaterials that encompass the Josephson effect. These SQUID-based metamaterials acquire their electromagnetic properties from the resonant characteristics of their constitutive elements, i.e., the individual rf SQUIDs. In its simplest version, an rf SQUID consists of a superconducting ring interrupted by a Josephson junction. We investigate numerically the response of a two-dimensional rf SQUID metamaterial with respect to the driving frequency of an externally applied alternating magnetic field in the presence of disorder arising from critical current fluctuations of the Josephson elements; in effect, the resonance frequencies of individual SQUIDs are distributed randomly around a mean value. Bistability is observed in the current amplitude-frequency curves both in ordered and disordered SQUID metamaterials; moreover, bistability is favored by disorder through the improvement of synchronization between SQUID oscillators. Relatively weak disorder widens significantly the bistability region by helping the system to self-organize and leads to nearly homogeneous states that change smoothly with varying driving frequency. Also, the total current of the metamaterial is enhanced, compared with that of uncoupled SQUIDs, through the synergetic action of coupling and synchronization. The existence of simultaneously stable states that provide either high or low total current, allows the metamaterial to exhibit different magnetic responses that correspond to different values of the effective magnetic permeability. At low power of the incident field, high current amplitude states exhibit extreme diamagnetic properties corresponding to negative magnetic permeability in a narrow frequency interval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a one-dimensional parity-time- (PT-)symmetric nonlinear magnetic metamaterial consisting of split-ring dimers having both gain and loss. When nonlinearity is absent we find a transition between an exact to a broken PT phase; in the former, the system features a two band gapped spectrum with shape determined by the gain and loss coefficients as well as the interunit coupling. In the presence of nonlinearity, we show numerically that as a result of the gain and dissipation matching a novel type of long-lived stable discrete breathers can form below the lower branch of the band with no attenuation. In these localized modes the energy is almost equally partitioned between two adjacent split rings on the one with gain and the other one with loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power transmission in one-dimensional nonlinear magnetic metamaterials driven at one end is investigated numerically and analytically in a wide frequency range. The nonlinear magnetic metamaterials are composed of varactor-loaded split-ring resonators which are coupled magnetically through their mutual inductances, forming thus a magnetoiductive transmission line. In the linear limit, significant power transmission along the array only appears for frequencies inside the linear magnetoinductive wave band. We present analytical, closed form solutions for the magnetoinductive waves transmitting the power in this regime, and their discrete frequency dispersion. When nonlinearity is important, more frequency bands with significant power transmission along the array may appear. In the equivalent circuit picture, the nonlinear magnetoiductive transmission line driven at one end by a relatively weak electromotive force, can be modeled by coupled resistive-inductive-capacitive (RLC) circuits with voltage-dependent capacitance. Extended numerical simulations reveal that power transmission along the array is also possible in other than the linear frequency bands, which are located close to the nonlinear resonances of a single nonlinear RLC circuit. Moreover, the effectiveness of power transmission for driving frequencies in the nonlinear bands is comparable to that in the linear band. Power transmission in the nonlinear bands occurs through the linear modes of the system, and it is closely related to the instability of a mode that is localized at the driven site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We model proteins as continuous electrostatic media immersed in water to investigate charge mediated processes in their interior. We use a Green's function formalism and find analytical expressions for the electrostatic energy in the vicinity of the protein surfaces. We find that due to image charges generated by the protein dielectric medium embedded in water, the effective electrostatic interaction between the two charges in the interior of the protein has an energy larger than the thermal energy. We focus specifically on kinesin to asses the strength of the electrostatic interaction between ATP and ADP molecules. It is known experimentally that ADP expulsion is correlated to ATP kinesin binding while both processes are essential for the kinesin walk. We estimate that the Bjerrum length in the interior of the kinesin dimer protein is of the order of 4 nm and that the pure electrostatic ATP–ADP interaction is of the order of 3–5 kBT. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2010 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intense work on discrete breathers or intrinsic localized modes in recent years has revealed a wealth of new properties of classical energy localization. Relaxation and mobility in particular may be two of the critical links with biomolecular processes. We review some of the basic discrete breather properties that we think are pertinent to biomolecules and make conjectures as to their possible biological utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is demonstrated numerically that nonlinear localized excitations in the form of dissipative discrete breathers can be induced spontaneously through the mechanism of modulational instability in nonlinear magnetic metamaterials comprised of binary arrays of split-ring resonators. Specifically, a variety of high amplitude dissipative breathers can be produced by frequency chirping of the driving field, which concentrate a large portion of the total energy of the metamaterial within only a few lattice sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rf superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) array in an alternating magnetic field is investigated with respect to its effective magnetic permeability, within the effective medium approximation. This system acts as an inherently nonlinear magnetic metamaterial, leading to negative magnetic response, and thus negative permeability above the resonance frequency of the individual SQUIDs. Moreover, the permeability exhibits oscillatory behavior at low field intensities, allowing its tuning by a slight change of the intensity of the applied field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device) metamaterial on a Lieb lattice with nearest-neighbor coupling supports simultaneously stable dissipative breather families which are generated through a delicate balance of input power and intrinsic losses. Breather multistability is possible due to the peculiar snaking flux amplitude-frequency curve of single dissipative-driven SQUIDs, which for relatively high sinusoidal flux field amplitudes exhibits several stable and unstable solutions in a narrow frequency band around resonance. These breathers are very weakly interacting with each other, while multistability regimes with a different number of simultaneously stable breathers persist for substantial intervals of frequency, flux field amplitude, and coupling coefficients. Moreover, the emergence of chimera states as well as temporally chaotic states exhibiting spatial homogeneity within each sublattice of the Lieb lattice is demonstrated. The latter of the states emerge through an explosive hysteretic transition resembling explosive synchronization that has been reported before for various networks of oscillators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic equations for the fluxes through the superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) that form a two-dimensional metamaterial on a Lieb lattice are derived and then linearized around zero flux to obtain the linear frequency spectrum according to the standard procedure. That spectrum due to the Lieb lattice geometry possesses a frequency band structure exhibiting two characteristic features: two dispersive bands, which form a Dirac cone at the corners of the first Brillouin zone and a flat band crossing the Dirac points. It is demonstrated numerically that localized states can be excited in the system when it is initialized with single-site excitations; depending on the amplitude of those initial states, the localization is either due to the flat-band or to nonlinear effects. Flat-band localized states are formed in the nearly linear regime, whereas localized excitations of the discrete breather type are formed in the nonlinear regime. These two regimes are separated by an intermediate turbulent regime for which no localization is observed. Notably, initial single-site excitations of only edge SQUIDs of a unit cell may end up in flat-band localized states; no such states are formed for initial single-site excitations of a corner SQUID of a unit cell. The degree of localization of the resulting states is in any case quantified using well-established measures, such as the energetic participation ratio and the second moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combinatorial frequency generation (CFG) in active periodic semiconductor-dielectric structures has been explored through illumination by a pair of pump waves with dissimilar frequencies and incidence angles. We study the influence of gain on linear refraction properties of the stack and on the efficiency of the mixing processes by the system with the resistive character of nonlinearity. We demonstrate that the introduction of gain dielectric material inside the stack not only compensates for losses caused by the collisions of the electrons in semiconductor media but also improves the efficiency of the CFG. We show that in systems with weak asymmetry of linear response we can get significant nonreciprocity of nonlinear interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semiconductor laser arrays have been investigated experimentally and theoretically from the viewpoint of temporal and spatial coherence for the past forty years. In this work, we are focusing on a rather novel complex collective behavior, namely chimera states, where synchronized clusters of emitters coexist with unsynchronized ones. For the first time, we find such states exist in large diode arrays based on quantum well gain media with nearest-neighbor interactions. The crucial parameters are the evanescent coupling strength and the relative optical frequency detuning between the emitters of the array. By employing a recently proposed figure of merit for classifying chimera states, we provide quantitative and qualitative evidence for the observed dynamics. The corresponding chimeras are identified as turbulent according to the irregular temporal behavior of the classification measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate entanglement dynamics and correlations in the quantum Ising model in arbitrary dimensions using a large-coordination-number expansion. We start from the pure paramagnetic regime obtained through zero spin-spin coupling and subsequently turn on the interspin interaction in a time-dependent fashion. We investigate analytically and compare results for both the slow adiabatic onset of the interactions and the fast instantaneous switching. We find that in the latter case of an initial excitation mode a quantum correlation wave spreads through the system, propagating with twice the group velocity of the linearized equilibrium modes. This wave establishes the spatiotemporal regime of entangled quantum properties of the system for time scales shorter than the decoherence time and thus provides an indicator for the "quantumness" of the physical system that the specific system models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate theoretically and numerically the propagation of electromagnetic waves in PT-symmetric periodic stacks composed of hyperbolic metamaterial layers separated by dielectric media with balanced loss and gain. We derive the characteristic frequencies governing the dispersion properties of the eigenwaves of PT-symmetric semiconductor-dielectric stacks. By tuning the loss/gain level and thicknesses of the layers, we study the evolution of the dispersion dependencies. We show that the effective-medium approach does not adequately describe the propagating waves in the PT-symmetric hypercrystals, even for wavelengths that are about 100 times larger than the period of the stack. We demonstrate the existence of anisotropic transmission resonances and above-unity reflection in PT-symmetric hyperbolic systems. The PT-symmetry-breaking transition of the scattering matrix is strongly influenced by the constitutive and geometrical parameters of the layers and the angles of wave incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate certain configurations of Luneburg lenses that form light propagating and guiding networks. We study single Luneburg lens dynamics and apply the single lens ray tracing solution to various arrangements of multiple lenses. The wave propagating features of the Luneburg lens networks are also verified through direct numerical solutions of Maxwell’s equations. We find that Luneburg lenses may form efficient waveguides for light propagation and guiding. The additional presence of nonlinearity improves the focusing characteristics of the networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]