7,847 research outputs found
Time-Varying Graphs and Dynamic Networks
The past few years have seen intensive research efforts carried out in some
apparently unrelated areas of dynamic systems -- delay-tolerant networks,
opportunistic-mobility networks, social networks -- obtaining closely related
insights. Indeed, the concepts discovered in these investigations can be viewed
as parts of the same conceptual universe; and the formal models proposed so far
to express some specific concepts are components of a larger formal description
of this universe. The main contribution of this paper is to integrate the vast
collection of concepts, formalisms, and results found in the literature into a
unified framework, which we call TVG (for time-varying graphs). Using this
framework, it is possible to express directly in the same formalism not only
the concepts common to all those different areas, but also those specific to
each. Based on this definitional work, employing both existing results and
original observations, we present a hierarchical classification of TVGs; each
class corresponds to a significant property examined in the distributed
computing literature. We then examine how TVGs can be used to study the
evolution of network properties, and propose different techniques, depending on
whether the indicators for these properties are a-temporal (as in the majority
of existing studies) or temporal. Finally, we briefly discuss the introduction
of randomness in TVGs.Comment: A short version appeared in ADHOC-NOW'11. This version is to be
published in Internation Journal of Parallel, Emergent and Distributed
System
The Next 700 Impossibility Results in Time-Varying Graphs
We address highly dynamic distributed systems modeled by time-varying graphs
(TVGs). We interest in proof of impossibility results that often use informal
arguments about convergence. First, we provide a distance among TVGs to define
correctly the convergence of TVG sequences. Next, we provide a general
framework that formally proves the convergence of the sequence of executions of
any deterministic algorithm over TVGs of any convergent sequence of TVGs.
Finally, we illustrate the relevance of the above result by proving that no
deterministic algorithm exists to compute the underlying graph of any
connected-over-time TVG, i.e., any TVG of the weakest class of long-lived TVGs
Graph analysis of functional brain networks: practical issues in translational neuroscience
The brain can be regarded as a network: a connected system where nodes, or
units, represent different specialized regions and links, or connections,
represent communication pathways. From a functional perspective communication
is coded by temporal dependence between the activities of different brain
areas. In the last decade, the abstract representation of the brain as a graph
has allowed to visualize functional brain networks and describe their
non-trivial topological properties in a compact and objective way. Nowadays,
the use of graph analysis in translational neuroscience has become essential to
quantify brain dysfunctions in terms of aberrant reconfiguration of functional
brain networks. Despite its evident impact, graph analysis of functional brain
networks is not a simple toolbox that can be blindly applied to brain signals.
On the one hand, it requires a know-how of all the methodological steps of the
processing pipeline that manipulates the input brain signals and extract the
functional network properties. On the other hand, a knowledge of the neural
phenomenon under study is required to perform physiological-relevant analysis.
The aim of this review is to provide practical indications to make sense of
brain network analysis and contrast counterproductive attitudes
The Web as an Adaptive Network: Coevolution of Web Behavior and Web Structure
Much is known about the complex network structure of the Web, and about behavioral dynamics on the Web. A number of studies address how behaviors on the Web are affected by different network topologies, whilst others address how the behavior of users on the Web alters network topology. These represent complementary directions of influence, but they are generally not combined within any one study. In network science, the study of the coupled interaction between topology and behavior, or state-topology coevolution, is known as 'adaptive networks', and is a rapidly developing area of research. In this paper, we review the case for considering the Web as an adaptive network and several examples of state-topology coevolution on the Web. We also review some abstract results from recent literature in adaptive networks and discuss their implications for Web Science. We conclude that adaptive networks provide a formal framework for characterizing processes acting 'on' and 'of' the Web, and offers potential for identifying general organizing principles that seem otherwise illusive in Web Scienc
Consensus of Multi-Agent Networks in the Presence of Adversaries Using Only Local Information
This paper addresses the problem of resilient consensus in the presence of
misbehaving nodes. Although it is typical to assume knowledge of at least some
nonlocal information when studying secure and fault-tolerant consensus
algorithms, this assumption is not suitable for large-scale dynamic networks.
To remedy this, we emphasize the use of local strategies to deal with
resilience to security breaches. We study a consensus protocol that uses only
local information and we consider worst-case security breaches, where the
compromised nodes have full knowledge of the network and the intentions of the
other nodes. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the normal
nodes to reach consensus despite the influence of the malicious nodes under
different threat assumptions. These conditions are stated in terms of a novel
graph-theoretic property referred to as network robustness.Comment: This report contains the proofs of the results presented at HiCoNS
201
Complex networks: new trends for the analysis of brain connectivity
Today, the human brain can be studied as a whole. Electroencephalography,
magnetoencephalography, or functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques
provide functional connectivity patterns between different brain areas, and
during different pathological and cognitive neuro-dynamical states. In this
Tutorial we review novel complex networks approaches to unveil how brain
networks can efficiently manage local processing and global integration for the
transfer of information, while being at the same time capable of adapting to
satisfy changing neural demands.Comment: Tutorial paper to appear in the Int. J. Bif. Chao
Maximizing Service Reliability in Distributed Computing Systems with Random Node Failures: Theory and Implementation
In distributed computing systems (DCSs) where server nodes can fail permanently with nonzero probability, the system performance can be assessed by means of the service reliability, defined as the probability of serving all the tasks queued in the DCS before all the nodes fail. This paper presents a rigorous probabilistic framework to analytically characterize the service reliability of a DCS in the presence of communication uncertainties and stochastic topological changes due to node deletions. The framework considers a system composed of heterogeneous nodes with stochastic service and failure times and a communication network imposing random tangible delays. The framework also permits arbitrarily specified, distributed load-balancing actions to be taken by the individual nodes in order to improve the service reliability. The presented analysis is based upon a novel use of the concept of stochastic regeneration, which is exploited to derive a system of difference-differential equations characterizing the service reliability. The theory is further utilized to optimize certain load-balancing policies for maximal service reliability; the optimization is carried out by means of an algorithm that scales linearly with the number of nodes in the system. The analytical model is validated using both Monte Carlo simulations and experimental data collected from a DCS testbed
Shortest, Fastest, and Foremost Broadcast in Dynamic Networks
Highly dynamic networks rarely offer end-to-end connectivity at a given time.
Yet, connectivity in these networks can be established over time and space,
based on temporal analogues of multi-hop paths (also called {\em journeys}).
Attempting to optimize the selection of the journeys in these networks
naturally leads to the study of three cases: shortest (minimum hop), fastest
(minimum duration), and foremost (earliest arrival) journeys. Efficient
centralized algorithms exists to compute all cases, when the full knowledge of
the network evolution is given.
In this paper, we study the {\em distributed} counterparts of these problems,
i.e. shortest, fastest, and foremost broadcast with termination detection
(TDB), with minimal knowledge on the topology.
We show that the feasibility of each of these problems requires distinct
features on the evolution, through identifying three classes of dynamic graphs
wherein the problems become gradually feasible: graphs in which the
re-appearance of edges is {\em recurrent} (class R), {\em bounded-recurrent}
(B), or {\em periodic} (P), together with specific knowledge that are
respectively (the number of nodes), (a bound on the recurrence
time), and (the period). In these classes it is not required that all pairs
of nodes get in contact -- only that the overall {\em footprint} of the graph
is connected over time.
Our results, together with the strict inclusion between , , and ,
implies a feasibility order among the three variants of the problem, i.e.
TDB[foremost] requires weaker assumptions on the topology dynamics than
TDB[shortest], which itself requires less than TDB[fastest]. Reversely, these
differences in feasibility imply that the computational powers of ,
, and also form a strict hierarchy
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