Publications

Search or filter publications

Filter by type:

Filter by publication type

Filter by year:

to

Results

  • Showing results for:
  • Reset all filters

Search results

  • Journal article
    Rosas FE, Mediano PAM, Rassouli B, Barrett ABet al., 2020,

    An operational information decomposition via synergistic disclosure

    , Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, Vol: 53, Pages: 485001-485001, ISSN: 1751-8113

    Multivariate information decompositions hold promise to yield insight into complex systems, and stand out for their ability to identify synergistic phenomena. However, the adoption of these approaches has been hindered by there being multiple possible decompositions, and no precise guidance for preferring one over the others. At the heart of this disagreement lies the absence of a clear operational interpretation of what synergistic information is. Here we fill this gap by proposing a new information decomposition based on a novel operationalisation of informational synergy, which leverages recent developments in the literature of data privacy. Our decomposition is defined for any number of information sources, and its atoms can be calculated using elementary optimisation techniques. The decomposition provides a natural coarse-graining that scales gracefully with the system's size, and is applicable in a wide range of scenarios of practical interest.
  • Journal article
    Andersen MM, Schjoedt U, Price H, Rosas FE, Scrivner C, Clasen Met al., 2020,

    Playing with fear: a field study in recreational horror

    , Psychological Science, Pages: 1-14, ISSN: 0956-7976

    Haunted attractions are illustrative examples of recreational fear in which people voluntarily seek out frightening experiences in pursuit of enjoyment. We present findings from a field study at a haunted-house attraction where visitors between the ages of 12 and 57 years (N = 110) were equipped with heart rate monitors, video-recorded at peak scare points during the attraction, and asked to report on their experience. Our results show that enjoyment has an inverted-U-shaped relationship with fear across repeated self-reported measures. Moreover, results from physiological data demonstrate that the experience of being frightened is a linear function of large-scale heart rate fluctuations, whereas there is an inverted-U-shaped relationship between participant enjoyment and small-scale heart rate fluctuations. These results suggest that enjoyment is related to forms of arousal dynamics that are “just right.” These findings shed light on how fear and enjoyment can coexist in recreational horror.
  • Journal article
    Herzog R, Mediano PAM, Rosas FE, Carhart-Harris R, Perl YS, Tagliazucchi E, Cofre Ret al., 2020,

    A mechanistic model of the neural entropy increase elicited by psychedelic drugs

    , Scientific Reports, Vol: 10, ISSN: 2045-2322

    Psychedelic drugs, including lysergic acid diethylamide and other agonists of the serotonin 2A receptor (5HT2A-R), induce drastic changes in subjective experience, and provide a unique opportunity to study the neurobiological basis of consciousness. One of the most notable neurophysiological signatures of psychedelics, increased entropy in spontaneous neural activity, is thought to be of relevance to the psychedelic experience, mediating both acute alterations in consciousness and long-term effects. However, no clear mechanistic explanation for this entropy increase has been put forward so far. We sought to do this here by building upon a recent whole-brain model of serotonergic neuromodulation, to study the entropic effects of 5HT2A-R activation. Our results reproduce the overall entropy increase observed in previous experiments in vivo, providing the first model-based explanation for this phenomenon. We also found that entropy changes were not uniform across the brain: entropy increased in some regions and decreased in others, suggesting a topographical reconfiguration mediated by 5HT2A-R activation. Interestingly, at the whole-brain level, this reconfiguration was not well explained by 5HT2A-R density, but related closely to the topological properties of the brain's anatomical connectivity. These results help us understand the mechanisms underlying the psychedelic state and, more generally, the pharmacological modulation of whole-brain activity.
  • Journal article
    Hilton B, Sood AP, Evans TS, 2019,

    Predictive limitations of spatial interaction models: a non-Gaussian analysis

    , Scientific Reports, ISSN: 2045-2322

    We present a method to compare spatial interaction models against data basedon well known statistical measures which are appropriate for such models anddata. We illustrate our approach using a widely used example: commuting data,specifically from the US Census 2000. We find that the radiation model performssignificantly worse than an appropriately chosen simple gravity model. Variousconclusions are made regarding the development and use of spatial interactionmodels, including: that spatial interaction models fit badly to data in anabsolute sense, that therefore the risk of over-fitting is small and addingadditional fitted parameters improves the predictive power of models, and thatappropriate choices of input data can improve model fit.
  • Journal article
    Cofré R, Herzog R, Mediano PAM, Piccinini J, Rosas FE, Sanz Perl Y, Tagliazucchi Eet al., 2020,

    Whole-brain models to explore altered states of consciousness from the bottom up

    , Brain Sciences, Vol: 10, ISSN: 2076-3425

    The scope of human consciousness includes states departing from what most of us experience as ordinary wakefulness. These altered states of consciousness constitute a prime opportunity to study how global changes in brain activity relate to different varieties of subjective experience. We consider the problem of explaining how global signatures of altered consciousness arise from the interplay between large-scale connectivity and local dynamical rules that can be traced to known properties of neural tissue. For this purpose, we advocate a research program aimed at bridging the gap between bottom-up generative models of whole-brain activity and the top-down signatures proposed by theories of consciousness. Throughout this paper, we define altered states of consciousness, discuss relevant signatures of consciousness observed in brain activity, and introduce whole-brain models to explore the biophysics of altered consciousness from the bottom-up. We discuss the potential of our proposal in view of the current state of the art, give specific examples of how this research agenda might play out, and emphasize how a systematic investigation of altered states of consciousness via bottom-up modeling may help us better understand the biophysical, informational, and dynamical underpinnings of consciousness.
  • Journal article
    Chen J, Wang Z, Zhu T, Rosas FEet al., 2020,

    Recommendation algorithm in double-layer network based on vector dynamic evolution clustering and attention mechanism

    , Complexity, Vol: 2020, Pages: 1-19, ISSN: 1076-2787

    The purpose of recommendation systems is to help users find effective information quickly and conveniently and also to present the items that users are interested in. While the literature of recommendation algorithms is vast, most collaborative filtering recommendation approaches attain low recommendation accuracies and are also unable to track temporal changes of preferences. Additionally, previous differential clustering evolution processes relied on a single-layer network and used a single scalar quantity to characterise the status values of users and items. To address these limitations, this paper proposes an effective collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm based on a double-layer network. This algorithm is capable of fully exploring dynamical changes of user preference over time and integrates the user and item layers via an attention mechanism to build a double-layer network model. Experiments on Movielens, CiaoDVD, and Filmtrust datasets verify the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithm can attain a better performance than other state-of-the-art algorithms.
  • Journal article
    Evans TS, Calmon L, Vasiliauskaite V, 2020,

    Longest path in the price model

    , Scientific Reports, Vol: 10, Pages: 1-9, ISSN: 2045-2322

    The Price model, the directed version of the Barab\'{a}si-Albert model,produces a growing directed acyclic graph. We look at variants of the model inwhich directed edges are added to the new vertex in one of two ways: usingcumulative advantage (preferential attachment) choosing vertices in proportionto their degree, or with random attachment in which vertices are chosenuniformly at random. In such networks, the longest path is well defined and insome cases is known to be a better approximation to geodesics than the shortestpath. We define a reverse greedy path and show both analytically andnumerically that this scales with the logarithm of the size of the network witha coefficient given by the number of edges added using random attachment. Thisis a lower bound on the length of the longest path to any given vertex and weshow numerically that the longest path also scales with the logarithm of thesize of the network but with a larger coefficient that has some weak dependenceon the parameters of the model.
  • Journal article
    Falkenberg M, Lee J-H, Amano S-I, Ogawa K-I, Yano K, Miyake Y, Evans TS, Christensen Ket al., 2020,

    Identifying time dependence in network growth

    , Physical Review & Research International, Vol: 2, Pages: 023352 – 1-023352 – 17, ISSN: 2231-1815

    Identifying power-law scaling in real networks—indicative of preferential attachment—has proved controversial. Critics argue that measuring the temporal evolution of a network directly is better than measuring the degree distribution when looking for preferential attachment. However, many of the established methods do not account for any potential time dependence in the attachment kernels of growing networks, or methods assume that node degree is the key observable determining network evolution. In this paper, we argue that these assumptions may lead to misleading conclusions about the evolution of growing networks. We illustrate this by introducing a simple adaptation of the Barabási-Albert model, the “k2 model,” where new nodes attach to nodes in the existing network in proportion to the number of nodes one or two steps from the target node. The k2 model results in time dependent degree distributions and attachment kernels, despite initially appearing to grow as linear preferential attachment, and without the need to include explicit time dependence in key network parameters (such as the average out-degree). We show that similar effects are seen in several real world networks where constant network growth rules do not describe their evolution. This implies that measurements of specific degree distributions in real networks are likely to change over time.
  • Journal article
    Ciacci A, Falkenberg M, Manani KA, Evans TS, Peters NS, Christensen Ket al., 2020,

    Understanding the transition from paroxysmal to persistent atrial fibrillation

    , Physical Review Research, Vol: 2, Pages: 023311-023311

    Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhytmia, characterisedby the chaotic motion of electrical wavefronts in the atria. In clinicalpractice, AF is classified under two primary categories: paroxysmal AF, shortintermittent episodes separated by periods of normal electrical activity, andpersistent AF, longer uninterrupted episodes of chaotic electrical activity.However, the precise reasons why AF in a given patient is paroxysmal orpersistent is poorly understood. Recently, we have introduced the percolationbased Christensen-Manani-Peters (CMP) model of AF which naturally exhibits bothparoxysmal and persistent AF, but precisely how these differences emerge in themodel is unclear. In this paper, we dissect the CMP model to identify the causeof these different AF classifications. Starting from a mean-field model wherewe describe AF as a simple birth-death process, we add layers of complexity tothe model and show that persistent AF arises from the formation of temporallystable structural re-entrant circuits that form from the interaction ofwavefront collisions during paroxysmal AF. These results are compatible withrecent findings suggesting that the formation of re-entrant drivers in fibroticborder zones perpetuates persistent AF.
  • Journal article
    Vasiliauskaite V, Evans TS, 2020,

    Making communities show respect for order

    , Applied Network Science, Vol: 5, Pages: 1-24, ISSN: 2364-8228

    In this work we give a community detection algorithm in which the communities both respects the intrinsic order of a directed acyclic graph and also finds similar nodes. We take inspiration from classic similarity measures of bibliometrics, used to assess how similar two publications are, based on their relative citation patterns. We study the algorithm’s performance and antichain properties in artificial models and in real networks, such as citation graphs and food webs. We show how well this partitioning algorithm distinguishes and groups together nodes of the same origin (in a citation network, the origin is a topic or a research field). We make the comparison between our partitioning algorithm and standard hierarchical layering tools as well as community detection methods. We show that our algorithm produces different communities from standard layering algorithms.
  • Journal article
    Rajpal H, Rosas De Andraca FE, Jensen HJ, 2019,

    Tangled worldview model of opinion dynamics

    , Frontiers in Physics, Vol: 7, ISSN: 2296-424X

    We study the joint evolution of worldviews by proposing a model of opinion dynamics, which is inspired in notions fromevolutionary ecology. Agents update their opinion on a specific issue based on their propensity to change – asserted by thesocial neighbours – weighted by their mutual similarity on other issues. Agents are, therefore, more influenced by neighbourswith similar worldviews (set of opinions on various issues), resulting in a complex co-evolution of each opinion. Simulationsshow that the worldview evolution exhibits events of intermittent polarization when the social network is scale-free. This, in turn,triggers extreme crashes and surges in the popularity of various opinions. Using the proposed model, we highlight the role ofnetwork structure, bounded rationality of agents, and the role of key influential agents in causing polarization and intermittentreformation of worldviews on scale-free networks.
  • Journal article
    Cofré R, Herzog R, Corcoran D, Rosas FEet al., 2019,

    A comparison of the maximum entropy principle across biological spatial scales

    , Entropy: international and interdisciplinary journal of entropy and information studies, Vol: 21, Pages: 1-20, ISSN: 1099-4300

    Despite their differences, biological systems at different spatial scales tend to exhibit common organizational patterns. Unfortunately, these commonalities are often hard to grasp due to the highly specialized nature of modern science and the parcelled terminology employed by various scientific sub-disciplines. To explore these common organizational features, this paper provides a comparative study of diverse applications of the maximum entropy principle, which has found many uses at different biological spatial scales ranging from amino acids up to societies. By presenting these studies under a common approach and language, this paper aims to establish a unified view over these seemingly highly heterogeneous scenarios.
  • Journal article
    Cofré R, Videla L, Rosas F, 2019,

    An introduction to the non-equilibrium steady states of maximum entropy spike trains

    , Entropy, Vol: 21, Pages: 1-28, ISSN: 1099-4300

    Although most biological processes are characterized by a strong temporal asymmetry, several popular mathematical models neglect this issue. Maximum entropy methods provide a principled way of addressing time irreversibility, which leverages powerful results and ideas from the literature of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. This tutorial provides a comprehensive overview of these issues, with a focus in the case of spike train statistics. We provide a detailed account of the mathematical foundations and work out examples to illustrate the key concepts and results from non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.
  • Journal article
    Rosas FE, Mediano PAM, Gastpar M, Jensen HJet al., 2019,

    Quantifying high-order interdependencies via multivariate extensions of the mutual information

    , Physical Review E, Vol: 100, ISSN: 2470-0045

    This paper introduces a model-agnostic approach to study statistical synergy, a form of emergence in which patterns at large scales are not traceable from lower scales. Our framework leverages various multivariate extensions of Shannon's mutual information, and introduces the O-information as a metric that is capable of characterizing synergy- and redundancy-dominated systems. The O-information is a symmetric quantity, and can assess intrinsic properties of a system without dividing its parts into “predictors” and “targets.” We develop key analytical properties of the O-information, and study how it relates to other metrics of high-order interactions from the statistical mechanics and neuroscience literature. Finally, as a proof of concept, we present an exploration on the relevance of statistical synergy in Baroque music scores.
  • Journal article
    Yao Q, Evans TS, Christensen K, 2019,

    How the network properties of shareholders vary with investor type and country

    , PLoS One, Vol: 14, Pages: 1-19, ISSN: 1932-6203

    We construct two examples of shareholder networks in which shareholders are connected if they have shares in the same company. We do this for the shareholders in Turkish companies and we compare this against the network formed from the shareholdings in Dutch companies. We analyse the properties of these two networks in terms of the different types of shareholder. We create a suitable randomised version of these networks to enable us to find significant features in our networks. For that we find the roles played by different types of shareholder in these networks, and also show how these roles differ in the two countries we study.
  • Journal article
    Azari MM, Rosas F, Pollin S, 2019,

    Cellular connectivity for UAVs: Network modeling, performance analysis, and design guidelines

    , IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, Vol: 18, Pages: 3366-3381, ISSN: 1536-1276

    The growing use of aerial user equipments (UEs) in various applications requires ubiquitous and reliable connectivity for safe control and data exchange between these devices and ground stations. Key questions that need to be addressed when planning the deployment of aerial UEs are whether the cellular network is a suitable candidate for enabling such connectivity and how the inclusion of aerial UEs might impact the overall network efficiency. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of user and network-level performance of a cellular network that serves both unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and ground users in the downlink. Our results show that the favorable propagation conditions that UAVs enjoy due to their height often backfire on them, as the increased load-dependent co-channel interference received from neighboring ground base stations (BSs) is not compensated by the improved signal strength. When compared with a ground user in an urban area, our analysis shows that a UAV flying at 100 m can experience a throughput decrease of a factor 10 and a coverage drop from 76% to 30%. Motivated by these findings, we develop UAV and network-based solutions to enable an adequate integration of UAVs into cellular networks. In particular, we show that an optimal tilting of the UAV antenna can increase the coverage from 23% to 89% and throughput from 3.5 to 5.8 b/s/Hz, outperforming ground UEs. Furthermore, our findings reveal that depending on the UAV altitude and its antenna configuration, the aerial user performance can scale with respect to the network density better than that of a ground user. Finally, our results show that network densification and the use of microcells limit the UAV performance. Although UAV usage has the potential to increase the area spectral efficiency (ASE) of cellular networks with a moderate number of cells, they might hamper the development of future ultradense networks.
  • Journal article
    Rosas De Andraca FE, Faggian M, Ginelli F, Levnajic Zet al., 2019,

    Synchronization in time-varying random networks with vanishing connectivity

    , Scientific Reports, Vol: 9, Pages: 1-11, ISSN: 2045-2322

    A sufficiently connected topology linking the constituent units of a complex system is usually seen as a prerequisite forthe emergence of collective phenomena such as synchronization. We present a random network of heterogeneous phaseoscillators in which the links mediating the interactions are constantly rearranged with a characteristic timescale and, possibly,an extremely low instantaneous connectivity. We show that with strong coupling and sufficiently fast rewiring the networkreaches partial synchronization even in the vanishing connectivity limit. In particular, we provide an approximate analyticalargument, based on the comparison between the different characteristic timescales of our system in the low connectivityregime, which is able to predict the transition to synchronization threshold with satisfactory precision beyond the formal fastrewiring limit. We interpret our results as a qualitative mechanism for emergence of consensus in social communities. Inparticular, our result suggest that groups of individuals are capable of aligning their opinions under extremely sparse exchangesof views, which is reminiscent of fast communications that take place in the modern social media. Our results may also berelevant to characterize the onset of collective behavior in engineered systems of mobile units with limited wireless capabilities
  • Journal article
    Vasiliauskaite V, Evans TS, 2019,

    Social success of perfumes

    , PLoS ONE, Vol: 14, ISSN: 1932-6203

    We study data on perfumes and their odour descriptors-notes-to understand how note compositions, called accords, influence successful fragrance formulas. We obtain accords which tend to be present in perfumes that receive significantly more customer ratings. Our findings show that the most popular notes and the most over-represented accords are different to those that have the strongest effect to the perfume ratings. We also used network centrality to understand which notes have the highest potential to enhance note compositions. We find that large degree notes, such as musk and vanilla as well as generically-named notes, e.g. floral notes, are amongst the notes that enhance accords the most. This work presents a framework which would be a timely tool for perfumers to explore a multidimensional space of scent compositions.
  • Journal article
    Patel VM, Panzarasa P, Ashrafian H, Evans TS, Kirresh A, Sevdalis N, Darzi A, Athanasiou Tet al., 2019,

    Collaborative patterns, authorship practices and scientific success in biomedical research: a network analysis.

    , Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol: 112, Pages: 245-257, ISSN: 1758-1095

    OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between biomedical researchers' collaborative and authorship practices and scientific success. DESIGN: Longitudinal quantitative analysis of individual researchers' careers over a nine-year period. SETTING: A leading biomedical research institution in the United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: Five hundred and twenty-five biomedical researchers who were in employment on 31 December 2009. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We constructed the co-authorship network in which nodes are the researchers, and links are established between any two researchers if they co-authored one or more articles. For each researcher, we recorded the position held in the co-authorship network and in the bylines of all articles published in each three-year interval and calculated the number of citations these articles accrued until January 2013. We estimated maximum likelihood negative binomial panel regression models. RESULTS: Our analysis suggests that collaboration sustained success, yet excessive co-authorship did not. Last positions in non-alphabetised bylines were beneficial for higher academic ranks but not for junior ones. A professor could witness a 20.57% increase in the expected citation count if last-listed non-alphabetically in one additional publication; yet, a lecturer suffered from a 13.04% reduction. First positions in alphabetised bylines were positively associated with performance for junior academics only. A lecturer could experience a 8.78% increase in the expected citation count if first-listed alphabetically in one additional publication. While junior researchers amplified success when brokering among otherwise disconnected collaborators, senior researchers prospered from socially cohesive networks, rich in third-party relationships. CONCLUSIONS: These results help biomedical scientists shape successful careers and research institutions develop effective assessment and recruitment policies that will ultimately sustain the quality of biomedical r
  • Journal article
    Duarte D, Amarteifio S, Ang H, Kong IY, Ruivo N, Pruessner G, Hawkins ED, Lo Celso Cet al., 2019,

    Defining the in vivo characteristics of acute myeloid leukemia cells behavior by intravital imaging

    , Immunology and Cell Biology, Vol: 97, Pages: 229-235, ISSN: 1440-1711

    The majority of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients have a poor response to conventional chemotherapy. The survival of chemoresistant cells is thought to depend on leukemia-bone marrow (BM) microenvironment interactions, which are not well understood. The CXCL12/CXCR4 axis has been proposed to support AML growth but was not studied at the single AML cell level. We recently showed that T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cells are highly motile in the BM; however, the characteristics of AML cell migration within the BM remain undefined. Here, we characterize the in vivo migratory behavior of AML cells and their response to chemotherapy and CXCR4 antagonism, using high-resolution 2-photon and confocal intravital microscopy of mouse calvarium BM and the well-established MLL-AF9-driven AML mouse model. We used the Notch1-driven T-ALL model as a benchmark comparison and AMD3100 for CXCR4 antagonism experiments. We show that AML cells are migratory, and in contrast with T-ALL, chemoresistant AML cells become less motile. Moreover, and in contrast with T-ALL, the in vivo exploratory behavior of expanding and chemoresistant AML cells is unaffected by AMD3100. These results expand our understanding of AML cells-BM microenvironment interactions, highlighting unique traits of leukemia of different lineages.
  • Conference paper
    Rassouli B, Rosas F, Gunduz D, 2019,

    Latent Feature Disclosure under Perfect Sample Privacy

    , 10th IEEE International Workshop on Information Forensics and Security (WIFS), Publisher: IEEE, ISSN: 2157-4766
  • Journal article
    Garcia Millan R, Pausch J, Walter B, Pruessner Get al., 2018,

    Field-theoretic approach to the universality of branching processes

    , Physical Review E, Vol: 98, ISSN: 1539-3755

    Branching processes are widely used to model phenomena from networks to neuronal avalanching. In a large class of continuous-time branching processes, we study the temporal scaling of the moments of the instant population size, the survival probability, expected avalanche duration, the so-called avalanche shape, the n-point correlation function, and the probability density function of the total avalanche size. Previous studies have shown universality in certain observables of branching processes using probabilistic arguments; however, a comprehensive description is lacking. We derive the field theory that describes the process and demonstrate how to use it to calculate the relevant observables and their scaling to leading order in time, revealing the universality of the moments of the population size. Our results explain why the first and second moment of the offspring distribution are sufficient to fully characterize the process in the vicinity of criticality, regardless of the underlying offspring distribution. This finding implies that branching processes are universal. We illustrate our analytical results with computer simulations.
  • Journal article
    Rosas De Andraca F, Chen K-C, Gunduz D, 2018,

    Social learning for resilient data fusion against data falsification attacks

    , Computational Social Networks, Vol: 5, ISSN: 2197-4314

    BackgroundInternet of Things (IoT) suffers from vulnerable sensor nodes, which are likely to endure data falsification attacks following physical or cyber capture. Moreover, centralized decision-making and data fusion turn decision points into single points of failure, which are likely to be exploited by smart attackers.MethodsTo tackle this serious security threat, we propose a novel scheme for enabling distributed decision-making and data aggregation through the whole network. Sensor nodes in our scheme act following social learning principles, resembling agents within a social network.ResultsWe analytically examine under which conditions local actions of individual agents can propagate through the network, clarifying the effect of Byzantine nodes that inject false information. Moreover, we show how our proposed algorithm can guarantee high network performance, even for cases when a significant portion of the nodes have been compromised by an adversary.ConclusionsOur results suggest that social learning principles are well suited for designing robust IoT sensor networks and enabling resilience against data falsification attacks.
  • Journal article
    Jensen H, Tempesta P, 2018,

    Group entropies: from phase space geometry to entropy functionals via group theory

    , Entropy, Vol: 20, ISSN: 1099-4300

    The entropy of Boltzmann-Gibbs, as proved by Shannon and Khinchin, is based on four axioms, where the fourth one concerns additivity. The group theoretic entropies make use of formal group theory to replace this axiom with a more general composability axiom. As has been pointed out before, generalised entropies crucially depend on the number of allowed degrees of freedom N. The functional form of group entropies is restricted (though not uniquely determined) by assuming extensivity on the equal probability ensemble, which leads to classes of functionals corresponding to sub-exponential, exponential or super-exponential dependence of the phase space volume W on N. We review the ensuing entropies, discuss the composability axiom and explain why group entropies may be particularly relevant from an information-theoretical perspective.
  • Journal article
    Rosas De Andraca FE, Martinez Mediano P, Ugarte M, Jensen Het al., 2018,

    An information-theoretic approach to self-organisation: Emergence of complex interdependencies in coupled dynamical systems

    , Entropy, Vol: 20, ISSN: 1099-4300

    Self-organisation lies at the core of fundamental but still unresolved scientific questions, and holds the promise of de-centralised paradigms crucial for future technological developments. While self-organising processes have been traditionally explained by the tendency of dynamical systems to evolve towards specific configurations, or attractors, we see self-organisation as a consequence of the interdependencies that those attractors induce. Building on this intuition, in this work we develop a theoretical framework for understanding and quantifying self-organisation based on coupled dynamical systems and multivariate information theory. We propose a metric of global structural strength that identifies when self-organisation appears, and a multi-layered decomposition that explains the emergent structure in terms of redundant and synergistic interdependencies. We illustrate our framework on elementary cellular automata, showing how it can detect and characterise the emergence of complex structures.
  • Journal article
    Sahasranaman A, Jensen HJ, 2018,

    Ethnicity and wealth: the dynamics of dual segregation

    , PLoS ONE, Vol: 13, ISSN: 1932-6203

    Creating inclusive cities requires meaningful responses to inequality and segregation. We build an agent-based model of interactions between wealth and ethnicity of agents to investigate ‘dual’ segregations—due to ethnicity and due to wealth. As agents are initially allowed to move into neighbourhoods they cannot afford, we find a regime where there is marginal increase in both wealth segregation and ethnic segregation. However, as more agents are progressively allowed entry into unaffordable neighbourhoods, we find that both wealth and ethnic segregations undergo sharp, non-linear transformations, but in opposite directions—wealth segregation shows a dramatic decline, while ethnic segregation an equally sharp upsurge. We argue that the decrease in wealth segregation does not merely accompany, but actually drives the increase in ethnic segregation. Essentially, as agents are progressively allowed into neighbourhoods in contravention of affordability, they create wealth configurations that enable a sharp decline in wealth segregation, which at the same time allow co-ethnics to spatially congregate despite differences in wealth, resulting in the abrupt worsening of ethnic segregation.
  • Journal article
    Dolan D, Jensen H, Martinez Mediano P, Molina-Solana MJ, Rajpal H, Rosas De Andraca F, Sloboda JAet al., 2018,

    The improvisational state of mind: a multidisciplinary study of an improvisatory approach to classical music repertoire performance

    , Frontiers in Psychology, Vol: 9, ISSN: 1664-1078

    The recent re-introduction of improvisation as a professional practice within classical music, however cautious and still rare, allows direct and detailed contemporary comparison between improvised and “standard” approaches to performances of the same composition, comparisons which hitherto could only be inferred from impressionistic historical accounts. This study takes an interdisciplinary multi-method approach to discovering the contrasting nature and effects of prepared and improvised approaches during live chamber-music concert performances of a movement from Franz Schubert’s “Shepherd on the Rock”, given by a professional trio consisting of voice, flute, and piano, in the presence of an invited audience of 22 adults with varying levels of musical experience and training. The improvised performances were found to be differ systematically from prepared performances in their timing, dynamic, and timbral features as well as in the degree of risk-taking and “mind reading” between performers including during moments of added extemporised notes. Post-performance critical reflection by the performers characterised distinct mental states underlying the two modes of performance. The amount of overall body movements was reduced in the improvised performances, which showed less unco-ordinated movements between performers when compared to the prepared performance. Audience members, who were told only that the two performances would be different, but not how, rated the improvised version as more emotionally compelling and musically convincing than the prepared version. The size of this effect was not affected by whether or not the audience could see the performers, or by levels of musical training. EEG measurements from 19 scalp locations showed higher levels of Lempel-Ziv complexity (associated with awareness and alertness) in the improvised version in both performers and audience. Results are discussed in terms of their potential
  • Journal article
    Jensen HJ, Pazuki RH, Pruessner G, Tempesta Pet al., 2018,

    Statistical mechanics of exploding phase spaces: ontic open systems

    , Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, Vol: 51, ISSN: 1751-8113

    The volume of phase space may grow super-exponentially ('explosively') with the number of degrees of freedom for certain types of complex systems such as those encountered in biology and neuroscience, where components interact and create new emergent states. Standard ensemble theory can break down as we demonstrate in a simple model reminiscent of complex systems where new collective states emerge. We present an axiomatically defined entropy and argue that it is extensive in the micro-canonical, equal probability, and canonical (max-entropy) ensemble for super-exponentially growing phase spaces. This entropy may be useful in determining probability measures in analogy with how statistical mechanics establishes statistical ensembles by maximising entropy.
  • Journal article
    Palmieri L, Jensen HJ, 2018,

    The emergence of weak criticality in SOC systems

    , EPL, Vol: 123, ISSN: 0295-5075

    Since Self-Organised Criticality (SOC) was introduced in 1987, both the nature of the self-organisation and the criticality have remained controversial. Besides, SOC-like dynamics has recently been observed in many natural processes like brain activity and rain precipitations, making a better understanding of such systems more urgent. Here we focus on the Drossel-Schwabl forest-fire model (FFM) of SOC and show that despite the model is not critical, it nevertheless exhibits a behaviour that justifies the introduction of a new kind of weak criticality. We present a method that allows to quantify the degree of criticality of a system and to introduce a new class of critical systems. This method can be easily adapted to experimental settings and contribute to a better understanding of real systems.
  • Journal article
    Cofré R, Maldonado C, Rosas De Andraca F, 2018,

    Large deviations properties of maximum entropy Markov chains from spike trains

    , Entropy, Vol: 20, ISSN: 1099-4300

    We consider the maximum entropy Markov chain inference approach to characterize the collective statistics of neuronal spike trains, focusing on the statistical properties of the inferred model. To find the maximum entropy Markov chain, we use the thermodynamic formalism, which provides insightful connections with statistical physics and thermodynamics from which large deviations properties arise naturally. We provide an accessible introduction to the maximum entropy Markov chain inference problem and large deviations theory to the community of computational neuroscience, avoiding some technicalities while preserving the core ideas and intuitions. We review large deviations techniques useful in spike train statistics to describe properties of accuracy and convergence in terms of sampling size. We use these results to study the statistical fluctuation of correlations, distinguishability, and irreversibility of maximum entropy Markov chains. We illustrate these applications using simple examples where the large deviation rate function is explicitly obtained for maximum entropy models of relevance in this field.

This data is extracted from the Web of Science and reproduced under a licence from Thomson Reuters. You may not copy or re-distribute this data in whole or in part without the written consent of the Science business of Thomson Reuters.

Request URL: http://wlsprd.imperial.ac.uk:80/respub/WEB-INF/jsp/search-t4-html.jsp Request URI: /respub/WEB-INF/jsp/search-t4-html.jsp Query String: id=302&limit=30&respub-action=search.html Current Millis: 1611586319880 Current Time: Mon Jan 25 14:51:59 GMT 2021

Publications

Publications of staff linked to the Centre for Complexity Science.

Note to staff: Publications will appear here automatically if you link your publications under the College's Sympletic Elements system.  This is done under "link to funding" under which you will find an option to find one or more papers which can be paired with an "organisational unit" where you should find the Centre for Complexity Science as one option. Any problems, talk to Tim Evans or the Faculty Web Team.