Descripción: The processing of information by the brain is reflected in dynamical changes of the electrical activity in time, frequency, and space. Therefore, the concomitant studies require methods capable of describing the quantitative variation of the signal in both time and frequency. Here we present a quantitative EEC (qEEG) analysis, based on the Orthogonal Discrete Wavelet Transform (ODWT), of generalized epileptic tonic-clonic EEG signals. Two quantifiers: the Relative Wavelet Energy (RWE) and the Normalized Total Wavelet Entmpy (NTWS) have been used. The RWE gives information about the relative energy associated with the different frequency bands present in the EEO and their corresponding degree of importance. The NTWS is a measure of the order/disorder degree in the EEG signal. These two quantifiers were computing in EEG signals as provided by scalp electrodes of epileptic patients. We showed that the epileptic recruitment rhythm observed for generalized epileptic tonic-clonic seizures is accurately described by the RWE quantifier. In addition, a significant decrease in the NTWS was observed in the recruitment epoch, indicating a more rhythmic and ordered behavior in the brain electrical activity.

Descripción: In this paper we compare two methods, based on the Gabor and wavelet transforms, to quantify and visualize the time evolution of frequency contents of electroencephalogram (EEG) time series. We found an optimal correlation between EEG visual inspection and the proposed methods in the characterization of the frequency and energy content of characteristic activity during an epileptic seizure. The quasimonofrequency behavior observed in the epileptic EEG series, in a previous work using a Gabor analysis [J. Inst. Electr. Eng. 93, 429 (1946)], is confirmed with the analysis using a wavelet. Moreover, the method based on the wavelet transform allows us to build a detector of epileptic events. Both methods are exemplified with EEG series obtained with depth electrodes in refractory epileptic patients. © 1996 The American Physical Society.

Descripción: This work proposes to employ the number of dry days (days without precipitation) as a variable of study, and to analyse their spatial and temporal variability in Argentina. Climatological aspects of dry days, such as their annual mean values and its seasonal cycle, were discussed and compared with precipitation features in the country. Linear trends in the annual number of dry days (ANDD) were identified for the period 1960-2005. Most of the regions exhibited decreasing trends, but few stations showed significant ones. The most important trends were present in the Central-West region and over the Patagonian coast and their magnitudes indicated a decrease of two to six dry days per decade. These trends coincide with the observed increase of accumulated precipitation in part of the country during the second half of the 20th century. To identify long-term fluctuations in the ANDD, a low pass filter, a wavelet analysis and a cubic polynomial fit was applied to the longest time series of the selected locations. Through these methodologies, periodicities were identified in the inter-annual and inter-decadal ranges for the last 80 years. The most important significant cycles were observed in the range of 10-24 years, but also, depending on the region, significant inter-annual variations were found. © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society.

Descripción: We show that coorbit spaces can be characterized in terms of arbitrary phase-space covers, which are families of phase-space multipliers associated with partitions of unity. This generalizes previously known results for time-frequency analysis to include time-scale decompositions. As a by-product, we extend the existing results for time-frequency analysis to an irregular setting. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.

Descripción: The objective of this research is to study the main variability modes of the frequency of extreme temperatures in the south of South Amenica, their relation to sea surface temperatures (SSTs), and some indices of atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere. Observational data and reanalysis data were used for this purpose over the 1964-2003 period. An initial analysis showed that between the months of March and June, the frequency of wann events (especially warm nights) is highly associated with the SST in coastal zones. A wavelet analysis showed that the main variability mode found at a seasonal scale was an 8-year wave signal present in spning that remains active until the 1990s; it was noticeable in the analysis of cold nights, Atlantic SSTs, Pacific SSTs, and the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). A cross-wavelet analysis among them reflected this signal as a common variability mode, with the positive phase of the SAM congruent with the warmest conditions in the coastal zones of the Atlantic Ocean and lower cases with cold nights at the reference meteorological stations analyzed. Although longer series are desirable for low-frequency variability analysis, the results agree with previous studies that take into account an 8-year periodicity of the baroclinic waves at the Southern Hemisphere, supporting the relevance of the 8-year signal. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Descripción: Natural time series usually show either a combination of periodic phenomena with stochastic components or chaotic behavior. In many cases, when nonlinear characteristics are computed, they will essentially indicate the most remarkable effects and the results will underestimate or overestimate the real complexity of the system. For that reason signal separation of the frequency bands representing well known phenomena, like periodic or almost periodic behaviors, allows comprehension of the hidden nonlinear or stochastic phenomena involved. In this work a signal separation method based on trigonometric wavelet packets is described. The method has been applied, as an example, to a time series of daily mean discharges of the Atuel river in Argentina, that presents strong annual and semiannual oscillations due to meteorological effects. The correlation dimension and the maximum Lyapunov exponent of the residual time series were obtained taking away its known almost periodic components.

Descripción: In the slugs and snails odor input signal, partly processed by the tentacle ganglion, propagates through the tentacle nerve (TN) to the cerebral ganglion, initially activating the meso-meta-region and finally the procerebral region (PC). The PC, equivalent to mammalian olfactory bulb, exerts slow spontaneous neuroelectrical oscillation, which changes its frequency and amplitude pattern responding to stimulus input. This has been related to a mechanism of signal processing for odor encoding. Three neuronal substructures, the cell mass (CM), the terminal mass (TM) and internal mass (IM) form the PC. Records from IM and CM have extensively been studied, but those from TM have scarcely been investigated. In the present study we aimed to clarify network dynamics among these cell ensembles with particular interest in the property of TM. Methods: We isolated the cerebral ganglia from the slug Incilaria together with TNs. We applied to TN electrical stimulation of weak to strong intensities (0.1 - 1.0 μA) and recorded activities at the three loci of PC by glass suction electrodes at a sampling rate of 200 Hz. The data were stored on hard drive and later off-line analysed by wavelet tools. Results: Wavelet analysis revealed that the major power of the spontaneous oscillations laid below 1.6 Hz. Namely, in the Incilaria PC, mainly the frequency components < 1.6 Hz take part in the dynamical signal processing. The frequency components, that are time-dependently, interacting with each other, contribute together to altering total entropy of a cell mass at a given time. Notably, the 0.1 - 0.2 Hz component contributing most strongly to total energy attributes most to dropping entropy ("ordering of neuronal state"). Response to the weakest stimulus is most sensitively elicited as "desynchronization" in TM-IM, but that to the stronger stimuli, as "synchronization or frequency ordering" in TM-CM, and finally "synchronization" in TM-IM-CM (the whole PC). The fact that the entropy of TM in general remains lower than IM and CM regardless with stimulation suggests that the neurons of TM are in more ordered state than the other masses playing some governing function in the procerebral network. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Descripción: A procedure for the construction of balanced orthogonal nonseparable quincunx multiwavelets, having filters with good lowpass properties, is introduced. The matrix filter bank is viewed as the polyphase matrix of other filters, upon which the lowpass condition is imposed. The multiscaling functions obtained are plotted by means of the cascade algorithm. The process of transforming an image with these wavelets is outlined: formulae for analysis and synthesis are given, the first steps are illustrated with images, and the decomposition of the original image into two input images is addressed. Compression is achieved in a nonlinear process. Experimental results show that (i) the constructed multiwavelets having lowpass properties perform better than other nonseparable multiwavelets, (ii) the energy compaction in the fine detail subbands is greater for the multiwavelets than for the one-dimensional wavelets tried.

Descripción: Above the southern Andes range and its prolongation in the Antarctic Peninsula, large-amplitude mountain and shear gravity waves observed with Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model simulations during winter 2009 are analyzed. Two specific reasons motivated this study: (1) a decade of satellite observations of temperature fluctuations in the stratosphere, allowing us to infer that this region may be launching the largest-amplitude gravity waves into the upper atmosphere, and (2) the recent design of a research program to investigate these features in detail, the Southern Andes Antarctic Gravity wave Initiative (SAANGRIA). The simulations are forced with ERA-Interim data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The approach selected for the regional downscaling is based on consecutive integrations with weekly reinitialization with 24 h of spin-up, and the outputs during this period are excluded from the analysis. From 1 June to 31 August 2009, five case studies were selected on the basis of their outstanding characteristics and large wave amplitudes. In general, one or two prevailing modes of oscillation are identified after applying continuous wavelet transforms at constant pressure levels and perpendicularly to the nominal orientation of the dominant wave crests. In all cases, the dominant modes are characterized by horizontal wavelengths around 50 km. Their vertical wavelengths, depending on a usually strong background wind shear, are estimated to be between 2 and 11 km. The corresponding intrinsic periods range between 10 and 140 min. In general, the estimated vertical wavelength (intrinsic period) maximizes (minimizes) around 250-300 hPa. The synoptic circulation for each case is described. Zonal and meridional components of the vertical flux of horizontal momentum are shown in detail for each case, including possible horizontal wavelengths between 12 and 400 km. Large values of this flux are observed at higher pressure levels, decreasing with increasing height after a progressive deposition of momentum by different mechanisms. As expected, in the wintertime upper troposphere and lower stratosphere in this region, a prevailing zonal component is negative almost everywhere, with the exception of one case above the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. A comparison with previous experimental results reported in the region from in situ and remote sensing measurements suggests a good agreement with the momentum flux profiles computed from the simulations. Partial wave reflection near the tropopause was found, as considerable departures from equipartition between potential and kinetic wave energy are obtained in all cases and at all pressure levels. This ratio was always less than 1 below the lower stratosphere. Copyright 2012 by the American Geophysical Union.