39 research outputs found
TU Graz: Course: 707.000 Web Science and Web Technology: Lecture 2: Small World Problem
We will discuss several examples and research efforts related to the small world problem and set the ground for our discussion of network theory and social network analysis.
Readings: An Experimental Study of the Small World Problem, J. Travers and S. Milgram Sociometry 32 425-443 (1969) [Protected Access]
Optional: The Strength of Weak Ties, M.S. Granovetter The American Journal of Sociology 78 1360--1380 (1973) [Protected Access]
Optional: Worldwide Buzz: Planetary-Scale Views on an Instant-Messaging Network, J. Leskovec and E. Horvitz MSR-TR-2006-186. Microsoft Research, June 2007. [Web Link, the most recent and comprehensive study on the subject!]
Originally from: http://kmi.tugraz.at/staff/markus/courses/SS2008/707.000_web-science
Exploring the topology of small-world networks
Complex networks have been studied for a long time in order to understand various real-world complex systems around us. Complex systems, such as the WWW, the movie-actor network, social networks and neural networks, are systems made of many non-identical elements connected by diverse interactions. The study of the network topology is one of important issues on the way of exploring such systems, because the structure always affects the system function. Traditionally, these systems have been modeled as either completely ordered graphs or completely random graphs. Until recently, some surprising empirical results in the field of complex networks, like 19 clicks of the web s diameter and 6 degrees of separation in social networks, show us the small-world phenomena existing in some large sparse networks. This finding motivates the interest in small-world networks. The objective of the project is to study the properties of small-world networks and the network evolution over time via experiments on a movie actor collaboration network; to find their different characteristics by comparing small-world networks with random networks; and to analyze the factors that result in such differences. The properties of small-world networks discussed here include small diameter, sparseness, clustering, giant component, power-law degree distribution and short path discovery. Also, four existing network models are studied in this project: Watts-Strogatz Small-world model, Erd s R nyi Random-graph model, A.-L. Barab si Scale-free model and Jon Kleinberg Small-world model
Self-similarity of complex networks
Complex networks have been studied extensively due to their relevance to many
real systems as diverse as the World-Wide-Web (WWW), the Internet, energy
landscapes, biological and social networks
\cite{ab-review,mendes,vespignani,newman,amaral}. A large number of real
networks are called ``scale-free'' because they show a power-law distribution
of the number of links per node \cite{ab-review,barabasi1999,faloutsos}.
However, it is widely believed that complex networks are not {\it length-scale}
invariant or self-similar. This conclusion originates from the ``small-world''
property of these networks, which implies that the number of nodes increases
exponentially with the ``diameter'' of the network
\cite{erdos,bollobas,milgram,watts}, rather than the power-law relation
expected for a self-similar structure. Nevertheless, here we present a novel
approach to the analysis of such networks, revealing that their structure is
indeed self-similar. This result is achieved by the application of a
renormalization procedure which coarse-grains the system into boxes containing
nodes within a given "size". Concurrently, we identify a power-law relation
between the number of boxes needed to cover the network and the size of the box
defining a finite self-similar exponent. These fundamental properties, which
are shown for the WWW, social, cellular and protein-protein interaction
networks, help to understand the emergence of the scale-free property in
complex networks. They suggest a common self-organization dynamics of diverse
networks at different scales into a critical state and in turn bring together
previously unrelated fields: the statistical physics of complex networks with
renormalization group, fractals and critical phenomena.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures, more informations at http://www.jamlab.or
Multifractal analysis of complex networks
Complex networks have recently attracted much attention in diverse areas of
science and technology. Many networks such as the WWW and biological networks
are known to display spatial heterogeneity which can be characterized by their
fractal dimensions. Multifractal analysis is a useful way to systematically
describe the spatial heterogeneity of both theoretical and experimental fractal
patterns. In this paper, we introduce a new box covering algorithm for
multifractal analysis of complex networks. This algorithm is used to calculate
the generalized fractal dimensions of some theoretical networks, namely
scale-free networks, small world networks and random networks, and one kind of
real networks, namely protein-protein interaction networks of different
species. Our numerical results indicate the existence of multifractality in
scale-free networks and protein-protein interaction networks, while the
multifractal behavior is not clear-cut for small world networks and random
networks. The possible variation of due to changes in the parameters of
the theoretical network models is also discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, 4 table
Fractal Boundaries of Complex Networks
We introduce the concept of boundaries of a complex network as the set of
nodes at distance larger than the mean distance from a given node in the
network. We study the statistical properties of the boundaries nodes of complex
networks. We find that for both Erd\"{o}s-R\'{e}nyi and scale-free model
networks, as well as for several real networks, the boundaries have fractal
properties. In particular, the number of boundaries nodes {\it B} follows a
power-law probability density function which scales as . The clusters
formed by the boundary nodes are fractals with a fractal dimension . We present analytical and numerical evidence supporting these
results for a broad class of networks. Our findings imply potential
applications for epidemic spreading
The World Trade Network
   This paper uses the tools of network analysis and graph theory to graphically and analytically represent the characteristics of world trade. The structure of the World Trade Network is compared over time, detecting and interpreting patterns of trade ties among countries. In particular, we assess whether the entrance of a number of new important players into the world trading system in recent years has changed the main characteristics of the existing structure of world trade, or whether the existing network was simply extended to a new group of countries. We also analyze whether the observed changes in international trade flow patterns are related to the multilateral or the regional liberalization policies. The results show that trade integration at the world level has been increasing but it is still far from being complete, with the exception of some areas, that there is a strong heterogeneity in the countries’ choice of partners, and that the WTO plays an important role in trade integration. The role of the extensive and the intensive margin of trade is also highlighted.Network analysis,International Trade,WTO,Extensive and Intensive Margins of Trade,Gravity
Link prediction methods and their accuracy for different social networks and network metrics
Currently, we are experiencing a rapid growth of the number of social–based online systems. The availability of the vast amounts of data gathered in those systems brings new challenges that we face when trying to analyse it. One of the intensively researched topics is the prediction of social connections between users. Although a lot of effort has been made to develop new prediction approaches that could provide a better prediction accuracy in social networked structures extracted from large–scale data about people and their activities and interactions, the existing methods are not comprehensively analysed. Presented in this paper, research focuses on the link prediction problem in which in a systematic way, we investigate the correlation between network metrics and accuracy of different prediction methods. For this study we selected six time–stamped real world social networks and ten most widely used link prediction methods. The results of our experiments show that the performance of some methods have a strong correlation with certain network metrics. We managed to distinguish ’prediction friendly’ networks, for which most of the prediction methods give good performance, as well as ’prediction unfriendly’ networks, for which most of the methods result in high prediction error. The results of the study are a valuable input for development of a new prediction approach which may be for example based on combination of several existing methods. Correlation analysis between network metrics and prediction accuracy of different methods may form the basis of a metalearning system where based on network characteristics and prior knowledge will be able to recommend the right prediction method for a given network at hand