Publications by authors named "Rafael M da Silva"

The nonlinear dynamics of a FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) neuron driven by an oscillating current and perturbed by a Gaussian noise signal with different intensities D is investigated. In the noiseless case, stable periodic structures [Arnold tongues (ATS), cuspidal and shrimp-shaped] are identified in the parameter space. The periods of the ATSs obey specific generating and recurrence rules and are organized according to linear Diophantine equations responsible for bifurcation cascades.

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The Covid-19 pandemic has provoked a deep and extensive health crisis and a trail of deaths globally and in Brazil (1). Brazil had reached the mark of 22,499,525 cases and 619,937 deaths by January 10, 2022 (2). The current Jair Bolsonaro government took too long to recognise the severity of the pandemic and also tried to discredit the vaccination process, and generated further controversy around the negotiations with the global suppliers.

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Several dynamical systems in nature can be maintained out-of-equilibrium, either through mutual interaction of particles or by external fields. The particle's transport and the transient dynamics are landmarking of such systems. While single ratchet systems are genuine candidates to describe unbiased transport, we demonstrate here that coupled ratchets exhibit collective transient ratchet transport.

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We analyze the existence of chaotic and regular dynamics, transient chaos phenomenon, and multistability in the parameter space of two electrically interacting FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) neurons. By using extensive numerical experiments to investigate the particular organization between periodic and chaotic domains in the parameter space, we obtained three important findings: (i) there are self-organized generic stable periodic structures along specific directions immersed in a chaotic portion of the parameter space; (ii) the existence of transient chaos phenomenon is responsible for long chaotic temporal evolution preceding the asymptotic (periodic) dynamics for particular parametric combinations in the parameter space; and (iii) the existence of various multistable domains in the parameter space with an arbitrary number of attractors. Additionally, we also prove through numerical simulations that chaos, transient chaos, and multistability prevail even for different coupling strengths between identical FHN neurons.

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After the spread of COVID-19 out of China, the evolution of the pandemic has shown remarkable similarities and differences between countries around the world. Eventually, such characteristics are also observed between different regions of the same country. Herewith, we introduce a general method that allows us to compare the evolution of the pandemic in different localities inside a large territorial country: in the case of the present study, Brazil.

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The cumulative number of confirmed infected individuals by the new coronavirus outbreak until April 30th, 2020, is presented for the countries: Belgium, Brazil, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (USA). After an initial period with a low incidence of newly infected people, a power-law growth of the number of confirmed cases is observed. For each country, a distinct growth exponent is obtained.

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In this work, we analyze the growth of the cumulative number of confirmed infected cases by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) until March 27, 2020, from countries of Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Our results show that (i) power-law growth is observed in all countries; (ii) by using the distance correlation, the power-law curves between countries are statistically highly correlated, suggesting the universality of such curves around the world; and (iii) soft quarantine strategies are inefficient to flatten the growth curves. Furthermore, we present a model and strategies that allow the government to reach the flattening of the power-law curves.

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In this work, we show that optimal ratchet currents of two interacting particles are obtained when stable periodic motion is present. By increasing the coupling strength between identical ratchet maps, it is possible to find, for some parametric combinations, current reversals, hyperchaos, multistability, and duplication of the periodic motion in the parameter space. Besides that, by setting a fixed value for the current of one ratchet, it is possible to induce a positive/negative/null current for the whole system in certain domains of the parameter space.

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This work uses the statistical properties of finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLEs) to investigate the intermittent stickiness synchronization (ISS) observed in the mixed phase space of high-dimensional Hamiltonian systems. Full stickiness synchronization (SS) occurs when all FTLEs from a chaotic trajectory tend to zero for arbitrarily long time windows. This behavior is a consequence of the sticky motion close to regular structures which live in the high-dimensional phase space and affects all unstable directions proportionally by the same amount, generating a kind of collective motion.

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Approximately 75% of the worldwide production of hard natural fibers originates from sisal, an industrial crop from arid and semiarid tropical regions. Brazil is the world's largest producer of sisal fiber, accounting for more than 40% of the worldwide production, and sisal bole rot disease has been the main phytosanitary problem of this crop. All previous studies reporting as the causal agent of the disease were based on the morphological features of fungal isolates from infected plant tissues in pure cultures.

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In this work, noise is used to analyze the penetration of regular islands in conservative dynamical systems. For this purpose we use the standard map choosing nonlinearity parameters for which a mixed phase space is present. The random variable which simulates noise assumes three distributions, namely equally distributed, normal or Gaussian, and power law (obtained from the same standard map but for other parameters).

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The intermediate dynamics of composed one-dimensional maps is used to multiply attractors in phase space and create multiple independent bifurcation diagrams which can split apart. Results are shown for the composition of k-paradigmatic quadratic maps with distinct values of parameters generating k-independent bifurcation diagrams with corresponding k orbital points. For specific conditions, the basic mechanism for creating the shifted diagrams is the prohibition of period doubling bifurcations transformed in saddle-node bifurcations.

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In this work, we show how the composition of maps allows us to multiply, enlarge, and move stable domains in phase and parameter spaces of discrete nonlinear systems. Using Hénon maps with distinct parameters, we generate many identical copies of isoperiodic stable structures (ISSs) in the parameter space and attractors in phase space. The equivalence of the identical ISSs is checked by the largest Lyapunov exponent analysis, and the multiplied basins of attraction become riddled.

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Objective:: To assess the frequency of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their parents, in comparison with children and adolescents without developmental disorders.

Methods:: Anthropometric measures were obtained in 69 outpatients with ASD (8.4±4.

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We analyze the recurrence-time statistics (RTS) in three-dimensional non-Hamiltonian volume-preserving systems (VPS): an extended standard map and a fluid model. The extended map is a standard map weakly coupled to an extra dimension which contains a deterministic regular, mixed (regular and chaotic), or chaotic motion. The extra dimension strongly enhances the trapping times inducing plateaus and distinct algebraic and exponential decays in the RTS plots.

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Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate a modified surgical technique for premaxilla repositioning with concomitant autogenous bone grafting in bilateral trans-foramen cleft lip and palate patients.

Patients And Methods: The study included 50 bilateral trans-foramen cleft lip and palate patients. Bone graft was harvested from the mandibular symphysis in 24 patients.

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