MDFA seems to be more sensitive as compared with WTMM method in differentiation between multifractal properties of the heart rate in healthy subjects and patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

The RR series extracted from human electrocardiogram signal (ECG) is considered as a fractal stochastic process. The manifestation of long-range dependencies is the presence of power laws in scale dependent process characteristics. Exponents of these laws: β -describing power spectrum decay, α -responsible for decay of detrended fluctuations or H related to, so-called, roughness of a signal, are known to differentiate hearts of healthy people from hearts with congestive heart failure. There is a strong expectation that resolution spectrum of exponents, so-called, local exponents in place of global exponents allows to study differences between hearts in details. The arguments are given that local exponents obtained in multifractal analysis by the two methods: wavelet transform modulus maxima (WTMM) and multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MDFA), allow to recognize the following four stages of the heart: healthy and young, healthy and advance in years, subjects with left ventricle systolic dysfunction (NYHA I-III class) and characterized by severe congestive heart failure (NYHA III-IV class).

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Purpose Environment-friendly management of sites used for disposal of locally generated sedimentary material involves designation of an optimal dumping site location which will render the dredged material re-usable for beneficial purposes. The objective of this research was to determine whether wind, waves, and currents can induce transport of sediment from offshore dumping sites located at intermediate depths in the southern Baltic. Materials and methods The problem was addressed by exploring potential sediment transport from two sites located in the Gulf of Gdańsk at depths of about 20 m. A total of 29 combinations of hydrodynamic variables, representing the most extreme possible situations in the area, including eight theoretical uniform wind fields over the entire Baltic Sea from the W, NW, N, NE, E, SE, S, and SW sectors, the wind speed of 30 m s −1 , as well as 21 historical extreme storms, retrieved from the HIPOCAS project database, were used. Results and discussion The bottom velocities resulting from waves and currents at the dumping sites considered were computed using wave models (WAM, SWAN) and the M3D hydrodynamic model (based on the POM model). To estimate the velocities critical for bedload transport, formulae developed by Soulsby (1997) and Sawamoto and Yamashita (Proc Coastal Sediments 87:415-423, 1987) were used. The volumetric bedload transport was computed based on Meyer-Peter and Müller (1948). The model simulations demonstrated that, for the storm conditions analyzed, the current velocity in the area of the two dumping sites would be so low that it would practically not affect the magnitude of the bottom sediment transport. Thus, the resultant volume of bedload transported would be equal to that generated by the wave action. For the heaviest historical storm, the maximum transport is about 3 × 10 −5 m 2 s −1. Conclusions Under conditions of theoretical storms, the bottom orbital velocities would be higher and the resultant sediment transport would reach almost 7 × 10 −5 m 2 s −1 for northerly winds. However, this value is still very low compared with the volume of sediment being dumped. The findings of this study may prove useful in designation of future dumping sites.

The principal goal of this study is to get some preliminary insights about the intensity of water movement generated by wind waves, and due to the currents in the bottom waters of Gulf of Gdańsk, during severe storms. The Gulf of Gdańsk is located in the southern Baltic Sea. This paper presents the results of analysis of wave and current-induced velocities during extreme wind conditions, which are determined based on long-term historical records. The bottom velocity fields originated from wind wave and wind currents, during analysed extreme wind events, are computed independently of each other. The long-term wind wave parameters for the Baltic Sea region are derived from the 44-year hindcast wave database generated in the framework of the project HIPOCAS funded by the European Union. The output from the numerical wave model WAM provides the boundary conditions for the model SWAN operating in high-resolution grid covering the area of the Gulf of Gdańsk. Wind current velocities are calculated with the M3D hydrodynamic model developed in the Institute of Oceanography of the University of Gdańsk based on the POM model. The three dimensional current fields together with trajectories of particle tracers spreading out of bottom boundary layer are modelled, and the calculated fields of bottom velocities are presented in the form of 2D maps. During northerly winds, causing in the Gulf of Gdańsk extreme waves and most significant wind-driven circulation, the wave-induced bottom velocities are greater than velocities due to currents. The current velocities in the bottom layer appeared to be smaller by an order of magnitude than the wave-induced bottom orbital velocities. Namely, during most severe northerly storms analysed, current bottom velocities ranged about 0.1-0.15 m/s, while the root mean square of wave-induced near-seabed velocities reached maximum values of up to 1.4 m/s in the southern part of Gulf of Gdańsk.