Network Partitioning in Distributed Agent-Based Models

Agent-Based Models (ABMs) are an emerging simulation paradigm for modeling complex systems, comprised of autonomous, possibly heterogeneous, interacting agents. The utility of ABMs lies in their ability to represent such complex systems as self-organizing networks of agents. Modeling and understanding the behavior of complex systems usually occurs at large and representative scales, and often obtaining and visualizing of simulation results in real-time is critical. The real-time requirement necessitates the use of in-memory computing, as it is difficult and challenging to handle the latency and unpredictability of disk accesses. Combining this observation with the scale requirement emphasizes the need to use parallel and distributed computing platforms, such as MPI-enabled CPU clusters. Consequently, the agent population must be partitioned across different CPUs in a cluster. Further, the typically high volume of interactions among agents can quickly become a significant bottleneck for real-time or large-scale simulations. The problem is exacerbated if the underlying ABM network is dynamic and the inter-process communication evolves over the course of the simulation. Therefore, it is critical to develop topology-aware partitioning mechanisms to support such large simulations. In this dissertation, we demonstrate that distributed agent-based model simulations benefit from the use of graph partitioning algorithms that involve a local, neighborhood-based perspective. Such methods do not rely on global accesses to the network and thus are more scalable. In addition, we propose two partitioning schemes that consider the bottom-up individual-centric nature of agent-based modeling. The First technique utilizes label-propagation community detection to partition the dynamic agent network of an ABM. We propose a latency-hiding, seamless integration of community detection in the dynamics of a distributed ABM. To achieve this integration, we exploit the similarity in the process flow patterns of a label-propagation community-detection algorithm and self-organizing ABMs. In the second partitioning scheme, we apply a combination of the Guided Local Search (GLS) and Fast Local Search (FLS) metaheuristics in the context of graph partitioning. The main driving principle of GLS is the dynamic modi?cation of the objective function to escape local optima. The algorithm augments the objective of a local search, thereby transforming the landscape structure and escaping a local optimum. FLS is a local search heuristic algorithm that is aimed at reducing the search space of the main search algorithm. It breaks down the space into sub-neighborhoods such that inactive sub-neighborhoods are removed from the search process. The combination of GLS and FLS allowed us to design a graph partitioning algorithm that is both scalable and sensitive to the inherent modularity of real-world networks

AN EDGE-CENTRIC PERSPECTIVE FOR BRAIN NETWORK COMMUNITIES

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Program in Neuroscience, 2021The brain is a complex system organized on multiple scales and operating in both a local and distributed manner. Individual neurons and brain regions participate in specific functions, while at the same time existing in the context of a larger network, supporting a range of different functionalities. Building brain networks comprised of distinct neural elements (nodes) and their interrelationships (edges), allows us to model the brain from both local and global perspectives, and to deploy a wide array of computational network tools. A popular network analysis approach is community detection, which aims to subdivide a network’s nodes into clusters that can used to represent and evaluate network organization. Prevailing community detection approaches applied to brain networks are designed to find densely interconnected sets of nodes, leading to the notion that the brain is organized in an exclusively modular manner. Furthermore, many brain network analyses tend to focus on the nodes, evidenced by the search for modular groupings of neural elements that might serve a common function. In this thesis, we describe the application of community detection algorithms that are sensitive to alternative cluster configurations, enhancing our understanding of brain network organization. We apply a framework called the stochastic block model, which we use to uncover evidence of non-modular organization in human anatomical brain networks across the life span, and in the informatically-collated rat cerebral cortex. We also propose a framework to cluster functional brain network edges in human data, which naturally results in an overlapping organization at the level of nodes that bridges canonical functional systems. These alternative methods utilize the connection patterns of brain network edges in ways that prevailing approaches do not. Thus, we motivate an alternative outlook which focuses on the importance of information provided by the brain’s interconnections, or edges. We call this an edge-centric perspective. The edge-centric approaches developed here offer new ways to characterize distributed brain organization and contribute to a fundamental change in perspective in our thinking about the brain

Different approaches to community detection

A precise definition of what constitutes a community in networks has remained elusive. Consequently, network scientists have compared community detection algorithms on benchmark networks with a particular form of community structure and classified them based on the mathematical techniques they employ. However, this comparison can be misleading because apparent similarities in their mathematical machinery can disguise different reasons for why we would want to employ community detection in the first place. Here we provide a focused review of these different motivations that underpin community detection. This problem-driven classification is useful in applied network science, where it is important to select an appropriate algorithm for the given purpose. Moreover, highlighting the different approaches to community detection also delineates the many lines of research and points out open directions and avenues for future research.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures. Written as a chapter for forthcoming Advances in network clustering and blockmodeling, and based on an extended version of The many facets of community detection in complex networks, Appl. Netw. Sci. 2: 4 (2017) by the same author

Fast Multi-Scale Community Detection based on Local Criteria within a Multi-Threaded Algorithm

Many systems can be described using graphs, or networks. Detecting communities in these networks can provide information about the underlying structure and functioning of the original systems. Yet this detection is a complex task and a large amount of work was dedicated to it in the past decade. One important feature is that communities can be found at several scales, or levels of resolution, indicating several levels of organisations. Therefore solutions to the community structure may not be unique. Also networks tend to be large and hence require efficient processing. In this work, we present a new algorithm for the fast detection of communities across scales using a local criterion. We exploit the local aspect of the criterion to enable parallel computation and improve the algorithm's efficiency further. The algorithm is tested against large generated multi-scale networks and experiments demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1204.100

The stability of a graph partition: A dynamics-based framework for community detection

Recent years have seen a surge of interest in the analysis of complex networks, facilitated by the availability of relational data and the increasingly powerful computational resources that can be employed for their analysis. Naturally, the study of real-world systems leads to highly complex networks and a current challenge is to extract intelligible, simplified descriptions from the network in terms of relevant subgraphs, which can provide insight into the structure and function of the overall system. Sparked by seminal work by Newman and Girvan, an interesting line of research has been devoted to investigating modular community structure in networks, revitalising the classic problem of graph partitioning. However, modular or community structure in networks has notoriously evaded rigorous definition. The most accepted notion of community is perhaps that of a group of elements which exhibit a stronger level of interaction within themselves than with the elements outside the community. This concept has resulted in a plethora of computational methods and heuristics for community detection. Nevertheless a firm theoretical understanding of most of these methods, in terms of how they operate and what they are supposed to detect, is still lacking to date. Here, we will develop a dynamical perspective towards community detection enabling us to define a measure named the stability of a graph partition. It will be shown that a number of previously ad-hoc defined heuristics for community detection can be seen as particular cases of our method providing us with a dynamic reinterpretation of those measures. Our dynamics-based approach thus serves as a unifying framework to gain a deeper understanding of different aspects and problems associated with community detection and allows us to propose new dynamically-inspired criteria for community structure.Comment: 3 figures; published as book chapte