18,396 research outputs found
The use of multilayer network analysis in animal behaviour
Network analysis has driven key developments in research on animal behaviour
by providing quantitative methods to study the social structures of animal
groups and populations. A recent formalism, known as \emph{multilayer network
analysis}, has advanced the study of multifaceted networked systems in many
disciplines. It offers novel ways to study and quantify animal behaviour as
connected 'layers' of interactions. In this article, we review common questions
in animal behaviour that can be studied using a multilayer approach, and we
link these questions to specific analyses. We outline the types of behavioural
data and questions that may be suitable to study using multilayer network
analysis. We detail several multilayer methods, which can provide new insights
into questions about animal sociality at individual, group, population, and
evolutionary levels of organisation. We give examples for how to implement
multilayer methods to demonstrate how taking a multilayer approach can alter
inferences about social structure and the positions of individuals within such
a structure. Finally, we discuss caveats to undertaking multilayer network
analysis in the study of animal social networks, and we call attention to
methodological challenges for the application of these approaches. Our aim is
to instigate the study of new questions about animal sociality using the new
toolbox of multilayer network analysis.Comment: Thoroughly revised; title changed slightl
Post-processing partitions to identify domains of modularity optimization
We introduce the Convex Hull of Admissible Modularity Partitions (CHAMP)
algorithm to prune and prioritize different network community structures
identified across multiple runs of possibly various computational heuristics.
Given a set of partitions, CHAMP identifies the domain of modularity
optimization for each partition ---i.e., the parameter-space domain where it
has the largest modularity relative to the input set---discarding partitions
with empty domains to obtain the subset of partitions that are "admissible"
candidate community structures that remain potentially optimal over indicated
parameter domains. Importantly, CHAMP can be used for multi-dimensional
parameter spaces, such as those for multilayer networks where one includes a
resolution parameter and interlayer coupling. Using the results from CHAMP, a
user can more appropriately select robust community structures by observing the
sizes of domains of optimization and the pairwise comparisons between
partitions in the admissible subset. We demonstrate the utility of CHAMP with
several example networks. In these examples, CHAMP focuses attention onto
pruned subsets of admissible partitions that are 20-to-1785 times smaller than
the sets of unique partitions obtained by community detection heuristics that
were input into CHAMP.Comment: http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4893/10/3/9
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