2,225 research outputs found
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
Coevolutionary Dynamics of Group Interactions: Coevolving Nonlinear Voter Models
We survey the coevolutionary dynamics of network topology and group
interactions in opinion formation, grounded on a coevolving nonlinear voter
model. The coevolving nonlinear voter model incorporates two mechanisms: group
interactions implemented through nonlinearity in the voter model and network
plasticity demonstrated as the rewiring of links to remove connections between
nodes in different opinions. We show that the role of group interactions,
implemented by the nonlinearity can significantly impact both the dynamical
outcomes of nodes' state and the network topology. Additionally, we review
several variants of the coevolving nonlinear voter model considering different
rewiring mechanisms, noise of flipping nodes' state, and multilayer structures.
We portray the various aspects of the coevolving nonlinear voter model as an
example of network coevolution driven by group interactions, and finally,
present the implications and potential directions for future research.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
Clustering of tag-induced sub-graphs in complex networks
We study the behavior of the clustering coefficient in tagged networks. The
rich variety of tags associated with the nodes in the studied systems provide
additional information about the entities represented by the nodes which can be
important for practical applications like searching in the networks. Here we
examine how the clustering coefficient changes when narrowing the network to a
sub-graph marked by a given tag, and how does it correlate with various other
properties of the sub-graph. Another interesting question addressed in the
paper is how the clustering coefficient of the individual nodes is affected by
the tags on the node. We believe these sort of analysis help acquiring a more
complete description of the structure of large complex systems
Controllability of Social Networks and the Strategic Use of Random Information
This work is aimed at studying realistic social control strategies for social
networks based on the introduction of random information into the state of
selected driver agents. Deliberately exposing selected agents to random
information is a technique already experimented in recommender systems or
search engines, and represents one of the few options for influencing the
behavior of a social context that could be accepted as ethical, could be fully
disclosed to members, and does not involve the use of force or of deception.
Our research is based on a model of knowledge diffusion applied to a
time-varying adaptive network, and considers two well-known strategies for
influencing social contexts. One is the selection of few influencers for
manipulating their actions in order to drive the whole network to a certain
behavior; the other, instead, drives the network behavior acting on the state
of a large subset of ordinary, scarcely influencing users. The two approaches
have been studied in terms of network and diffusion effects. The network effect
is analyzed through the changes induced on network average degree and
clustering coefficient, while the diffusion effect is based on two ad-hoc
metrics defined to measure the degree of knowledge diffusion and skill level,
as well as the polarization of agent interests. The results, obtained through
simulations on synthetic networks, show a rich dynamics and strong effects on
the communication structure and on the distribution of knowledge and skills,
supporting our hypothesis that the strategic use of random information could
represent a realistic approach to social network controllability, and that with
both strategies, in principle, the control effect could be remarkable
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