The robustness of two widespread multifractal analysis methods, one based on detrended fluctuation analysis and one on wavelet leaders, is discussed in the context of time-series containing non-uniform structures with only isolated singularities. Signals generated by simulated and experimentally-realized chaos generators, together with synthetic data addressing particular aspects, are taken into consideration. The results reveal essential limitations affecting the ability of both methods to correctly infer the non-multifractal nature of signals devoid of a cascade-like hierarchy of singularities. Namely, signals harboring only isolated singularities are found to artefactually give rise to broad multifractal spectra, resembling those expected in the presence of a well-developed underlying multifractal structure. Hence, there is a real risk of incorrectly inferring multifractality due to isolated singularities. The careful consideration of local scaling properties and the distribution of Hölder exponent obtained, for example, through wavelet analysis, is indispensable for rigorously assessing the presence or absence of multifractality.
The miltifractal properties and scaling behaviour of the exchange rate variations of the Iranian rial against the US dollar from a daily perspective is numerically investigated. For this purpose the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) is used. Through multifractal analysis, the scaling exponents, generalized Hurst exponents, generalized fractal dimensions and singularity spectrum are derived. Moreover, contribution of two major sources of multifractality, that is, fat-tailed probability distributions and nonlinear temporal correlations are studied.
The performance of the multifractal detrended analysis on short time series is evaluated for synthetic samples of several mono- and multifractal models. The reconstruction of the generalized Hurst exponents is used to determine the range of applicability of the method and the precision of its results as a function of the decreasing length of the series. As an application the series of the daily exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the euro is studied.
The multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis technique is employed to analyze the time series of gold consumer price index (CPI) and the market trend of three world's highest gold consuming countries, namely China, India and Turkey for the period: 1993-July 2013. Various multifractal variables, such as the generalized Hurst exponent, the multifractal exponent and the singularity spectrum, are calculated and the results are fitted to the generalized binomial multifractal (GBM) series that consists of only two parameters. Special emphasis is given to identify the possible source(s) of multifr…
It is ubiquitous in natural and social sciences that two variables, recorded temporally or spatially in a complex system, are cross-correlated and possess multifractal features. We propose a new method called multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-DXA) to investigate the multifractal behaviors in the power-law cross-correlations between two records in one or higher dimensions. The method is validated with cross-correlated 1D and 2D binomial measures and multifractal random walks. Application to two financial time series is also illustrated.
Multifractal time series analysis is a approach that shows the possible complexity of the system. Nowadays, one of the most popular and the best methods for determining multifractal characteristics is Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA). However, it has some drawback. One of its core elements is detrending of the series. In the classical MFDFA a trend is estimated by fitting a polynomial of degree $m$ where $m=const$. We propose that the degree $m$ of a polynomial was not constant ($m\neq const$) and its selection was ruled by an established criterion. Taking into account the a…
One-dimensional detrended fluctuation analysis (1D DFA) and multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (1D MF-DFA) are widely used in the scaling analysis of fractal and multifractal time series because of being accurate and easy to implement. In this paper we generalize the one-dimensional DFA and MF-DFA to higher-dimensional versions. The generalization works well when tested with synthetic surfaces including fractional Brownian surfaces and multifractal surfaces. The two-dimensional MF-DFA is also adopted to analyze two images from nature and experiment and nice scaling laws are unraveled.
When common factors strongly influence two cross-correlated time series recorded in complex natural and social systems, the results will be biased if we use multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-DXA) without considering these common factors. Based on multifractal temporally weighted detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-TWXDFA) proposed by our group and multifractal partial cross-correlation analysis (MF-DPXA) proposed by Qian et al., we propose a new method---multifractal temporally weighted detrended partial cross-correlation analysis (MF-TWDPCCA) to quantify intrinsic pow…
We use multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA), to See query 1 study sunspot number fluctuations. The result of the MF-DFA shows that there are three crossover timescales in the fluctuation function. We discuss how the existence of the crossover timescales is related to a sinusoidal trend. Using Fourier detrended fluctuation analysis, the sinusoidal trend is eliminated. The Hurst exponent of the time series without the sinusoidal trend is $0.12\pm 0.01$. Also we find that these fluctuations have multifractal nature. Comparing the MF-DFA results for the remaining data set to those …
We develop a method for the multifractal characterization of nonstationary time series, which is based on a generalization of the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). We relate our multifractal DFA method to the standard partition function-based multifractal formalism, and prove that both approaches are equivalent for stationary signals with compact support. By analyzing several examples we show that the new method can reliably determine the multifractal scaling behavior of time series. By comparing the multifractal DFA results for original series to those for shuffled series we can distingui…
The refractive index fluctuations in the connective tissue layer (stroma) of human cervical tissues having different grades of precancers (dysplasia) was quantified using a wavelet-based multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis model. The results show clear signature of multi-scale self-similarity in the index fluctuations of the tissues. Importantly, the refractive index fluctuations were found to be more anti-correlated at higher grades of precancers. Moreover, the strength of multifractality was also observed to be considerably weaker in higher grades of precancers. These results were fu…
We propose a novel algorithm - Multifractal Cross-Correlation Analysis (MFCCA) - that constitutes a consistent extension of the Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (DCCA) and is able to properly identify and quantify subtle characteristics of multifractal cross-correlations between two time series. Our motivation for introducing this algorithm is that the already existing methods like MF-DXA have at best serious limitations for most of the signals describing complex natural processes and often indicate multifractal cross-correlations when there are none. The principal component of the present…
Multifractal structure of global monthly mean temperature anomaly time series over the period of 1850-2012 are studied in terms of the multifractal detrended moving average (MFDMA) analysis. We try to address the possible source(s) and the nature of multifractality in the time series data by comparing the results derived from the actual series with those from a set of shuffled and surrogate series. It is seen that the MFDMA method predicts a multifractal structure of the temperature anomaly records that is more or less similar to what was obtained from the multifractal detrended analysis for t…
Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA) has become a central method to characterise the variability and uncertainty in empiric time series. Extracting the fluctuations on different temporal scales allows quantifying the strength and correlations in the underlying stochastic properties, their scaling behaviour, as well as the level of fractality. Several extensions to the fundamental method have been developed over the years, vastly enhancing the applicability of MFDFA, e.g. empirical mode decomposition for the study of long-range correlations and persistence. In this article we int…
We perform a comparative study of applicability of the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) and the Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima (WTMM) method in proper detecting of mono- and multifractal character of data. We quantify the performance of both methods by using different sorts of artificial signals generated according to a few well-known exactly soluble mathematical models: monofractal fractional Brownian motion, bifractal Levy flights, and different sorts of multifractal binomial cascades. Our results show that in majority of situations in which one does not know a priori th…
We study temporal correlations and multifractal properties of long river discharge records from 41 hydrological stations around the globe. To detect long-term correlations and multifractal behaviour in the presence of trends, we apply several recently developed methods [detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), wavelet analysis, and multifractal DFA] that can systematically detect and overcome nonstationarities in the data at all time scales. We find that above some crossover time that usually is several weeks, the daily runoffs are long-term correlated, being characterized by a correlation functi…
When common factors strongly influence two power-law cross-correlated time series recorded in complex natural or social systems, using classic detrended cross-correlation analysis (DCCA) without considering these common factors will bias the results. We use detrended partial cross-correlation analysis (DPXA) to uncover the intrinsic power-law cross-correlations between two simultaneously recorded time series in the presence of nonstationarity after removing the effects of other time series acting as common forces. The DPXA method is a generalization of the detrended cross-correlation analysis …
Categorization is crucial for content description in archiving of music signals. On many occasions, human brain fails to classify the instruments properly just by listening to their sounds which is evident from the human response data collected during our experiment. Some previous attempts to categorize several musical instruments using various linear analysis methods required a number of parameters to be determined. In this work, we attempted to categorize a number of string instruments according to their mode of playing using latest-state-of-the-art robust non-linear methods. For this, 30 se…
There is growing evidence that cognitive processes may have fractal structures as a signature of complexity. It is an an ongoing topic of research to study the class of complexity and how it may differ as a function of cognitive variables. Here, we explore the eye movement trajectories generated during reading different Persian texts. Features of eye movement trajectories were recorded during reading Persian texts using an eye tracker. We show that fixation durations, as the main components of eye movements reflecting cognitive processing, exhibits multifractal behavior. This indicates that mu…
We use the Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (DCCA) to investigate the influence of sun activity represented by sunspot numbers on one of the climate indicators, specifically rivers, represented by river flow fluctuation for Daugava, Holston, Nolichucky and French Broad rivers. The Multifractal Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (MF-DXA) shows that there exist some crossovers in the cross-correlation fluctuation function versus time scale of the river flow and sunspot series. One of these crossovers corresponds to the well-known cycle of solar activity demonstrating a universal property o…
Multifractal detrended cross-correlation methodology is described and applied to Foreign exchange (Forex) market time series. Fluctuations of high frequency exchange rates of eight major world currencies over 2010-2018 period are used to study cross-correlations. The study is motivated by fundamental questions in complex systems' response to significant environmental changes and by potential applications in investment strategies, including detecting triangular arbitrage opportunities. Dominant multiscale cross-correlations between the exchange rates are found to typically occur at smaller fluc…
We investigate the statistical anisotropy and Gaussianity of temperature fluctuations of Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) data from {\it Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe} survey, using the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis, rescaled range and scaled windowed variance methods. The multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis shows that CMB fluctuations has a long range correlation function with a multifractal behavior. By comparing the shuffled and surrogate series of CMB data, we conclude that the multifractality nature of temperature fluctuation of CMB is mainly due to…
Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis stands out as one of the most reliable methods for unveiling multifractal properties, specially when real-world time series are under analysis. However, little is known about how several aspects, like artefacts during the data acquisition process, affect its results. In this work we have numerically investigated the performance of Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis applied to synthetic finite uncorrelated data following a power-law distribution in the presence of additive noise, and periodic and randomly-placed outliers. We have found that, …
Recently the statistical characterizations of financial markets based on physics concepts and methods attract considerable attentions. We used two possible procedures of analyzing multifractal properties of a time series. The first one uses the continuous wavelet transform and extracts scaling exponents from the wavelet transform amplitudes over all scales. The second method is the multifractal version of the detrended fluctuation analysis method (MF-DFA). The multifractality of a time series we analysed by means of the difference of values singularity stregth as a suitable way to characterise…
Unlike price fluctuations, the temporal structure of cryptocurrency trading has seldom been a subject of systematic study. In order to fill this gap, we analyse detrended correlations of the price returns, the average number of trades in time unit, and the traded volume based on high-frequency data representing two major cryptocurrencies: bitcoin and ether. We apply the multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis, which is considered the most reliable method for identifying nonlinear correlations in time series. We find that all the quantities considered in our study show an unambiguous …
We focus on the importance of $q$ moments range used within multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA) to calculate the generalized Hurst exponent spread and multifractal properties of signals. Different orders of detrending polynomials are also discussed. In particular, we analyze quantitatively the corrections to the spread of generalized Hurst exponent profile $Δh$ allowing to extend the previously found by us formulas for large $q$, describing the level of artificial multiscaling in finite signals, to arbitrary narrower range of $q$ moments used in MFDFA technique in distinct appl…
Long-range correlation and fluctuation in the gold market time series of world's two leading gold consuming countries, namely China and India, are studied. For both the market series during the period 1985-2013 we observe a long-range persistence of memory in the sequences of maxima (minima) of returns in successive time windows of fixed length, but the series as a whole are found to be uncorrelated. Multifractal analysis for these series as well as for the sequences of maxima (minima) is carried out in terms of the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) method. We observe a weak…
We study quantitatively the level of false multifractal signal one may encounter while analyzing multifractal phenomena in time series within multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA). The investigated effect appears as a result of finite length of used data series and is additionally amplified by the long-term memory the data eventually may contain. We provide the detailed quantitative description of such apparent multifractal background signal as a threshold in spread of generalized Hurst exponent values $Δh$ or a threshold in the width of multifractal spectrum $Δα$ below which mu…
This work presents the application of Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis for the surface electromyography signals obtained from the patients suffering from rectal cancer. The electrical activity of an external anal sphincter at different levels of medical treatment is considered. The results from standard MFDFA and the EMD--based MFDFA method are compared. Two distinct scaling regions were identified. Within the region of short time scales the calculated spectra exhibit the shift towards higher values of the singularity exponent for both methods. In addition obtained spectra are shift…
The detrended cross-correlation coefficient $ρ_{\rm DCCA}$ has recently been proposed to quantify the strength of cross-correlations on different temporal scales in bivariate, non-stationary time series. It is based on the detrended cross-correlation and detrended fluctuation analyses (DCCA and DFA, respectively) and can be viewed as an analogue of the Pearson coefficient in the case of the fluctuation analysis. The coefficient $ρ_{\rm DCCA}$ works well in many practical situations but by construction its applicability is limited to detection of whether two signals are generally cross-correlat…
We study the multifractal temporal scaling properties of river discharge and precipitation records. We compare the results for the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis method with the results for the wavelet transform modulus maxima technique and obtain agreement within the error margins. In contrast to previous studies, we find non-universal behaviour: On long time scales, above a crossover time scale of several months, the runoff records are described by fluctuation exponents varying from river to river in a wide range. Similar variations are observed for the precipitation records whi…
In 2005, Nagler and Claussen (Phys. Rev. E 71 (2005) 067103) investigated the time series of the elementary cellular automata (ECA) for possible (multi)fractal behavior. They eliminated the polynomial background at^b through the direct fitting of the polynomial coefficients a and b. We here reconsider their work eliminating the polynomial trend by means of the multifractal-based detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) in which the wavelet multiresolution property is employed to filter out the trend in a more speedy way than the direct polynomial fitting and also with respect to the wavelet tra…
We investigate the presence of residual multifractal background for monofractal signals which appears due to the finite length of the signals and (or) due to the long memory the signals reveal. This phenomenon is investigated numerically within the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) for artificially generated time series. Next, the analytical formulas enabling to describe the multifractal content in such signals are provided. Final results are shown in the frequently used generalized Hurst exponent h(q) multifractal scenario and are presented as a function of time series leng…
The detrending moving average (DMA) algorithm is a widely used technique to quantify the long-term correlations of non-stationary time series and the long-range correlations of fractal surfaces, which contains a parameter $θ$ determining the position of the detrending window. We develop multifractal detrending moving average (MFDMA) algorithms for the analysis of one-dimensional multifractal measures and higher-dimensional multifractals, which is a generalization of the DMA method. The performance of the one-dimensional and two-dimensional MFDMA methods is investigated using synthetic multifra…
We use some fractal analysis methods to study river flow fluctuations. The result of the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MF-DFA) shows that there are two crossover timescales at $s_{1\times}\sim12$ and $s_{2\times}\sim130$ months in the fluctuation function. We discuss how the existence of the crossover timescales are related to a sinusoidal trend. The first crossover is due to the seasonal trend and the value of second ones is approximately equal to the well known cycle of sun activity. Using Fourier detrended fluctuation analysis, the sinusoidal trend is eliminated. The value of…
The multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis of time series is able to reveal the presence of long-range correlations and, at the same time, to characterize the self-similarity of the series. The rich information derivable from the characteristic exponents and the multifractal spectrum can be further analyzed to discover important insights about the underlying dynamical process. In this paper, we employ multifractal analysis techniques in the study of protein contact networks. To this end, initially a network is mapped to three different time series, each of which is generated by a stationa…
In this work the multifractal analysis of the kinesiological surface electromyographic signal is proposed. The goal was to investigate the level of neuromuscular activation during complex movements on the laparoscopic trainer. The basic issue of this work concerns the changes observed in the signal obtained from the complete beginner in the field of using laparoscopic tools and the same person subjected to the series of training. To quantify the complexity of the kinesiological sEMG, the nonlinear analysis technique, namely the MultiFractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis was adopted. The analy…
We study the nature of fluctuations in variety of price indices involving companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The fluctuations at multiple scales are extracted through the use of wavelets belonging to Daubechies basis. The fact that these basis sets satisfy vanishing moments conditions makes them ideal to extract local polynomial trends, through the low pass or `average coefficients'. Subtracting the trends from the original time series yields the fluctuations, at different scales, depending on the level of low-pass coefficients used for finding the `average behavior'. The fluctua…
The classical structure-function (SF) method in fully developed turbulence or for scaling processes in general is influenced by large-scale energetic structures, known as infrared effect. Therefore, the extracted scaling exponents $ζ(n)$ might be biased due to this effect. In this paper, a detrended structure-function (DSF) method is proposed to extract scaling exponents by constraining the influence of large-scale structures. This is accomplished by removing a $1$st-order polynomial fitting within a window size $\ell$ before calculating the velocity increment. By doing so, the scales larger t…
In this paper we present an extended version of Hilbert-Huang transform, namely arbitrary-order Hilbert spectral analysis, to characterize the scale-invariant properties of a time series directly in an amplitude-frequency space. We first show numerically that due to a nonlinear distortion, traditional methods require high-order harmonic components to represent nonlinear processes, except for the Hilbert-based method. This will lead to an artificial energy flux from the low-frequency (large scale) to the high-frequency (small scale) part. Thus the power law, if it exists, is contaminated. We th…
