Reduction of Second-Order Network Systems with Structure Preservation

This paper proposes a general framework for structure-preserving model reduction of a secondorder network system based on graph clustering. In this approach, vertex dynamics are captured by the transfer functions from inputs to individual states, and the dissimilarities of vertices are quantified by the H2-norms of the transfer function discrepancies. A greedy hierarchical clustering algorithm is proposed to place those vertices with similar dynamics into same clusters. Then, the reduced-order model is generated by the Petrov-Galerkin method, where the projection is formed by the characteristic matrix of the resulting network clustering. It is shown that the simplified system preserves an interconnection structure, i.e., it can be again interpreted as a second-order system evolving over a reduced graph. Furthermore, this paper generalizes the definition of network controllability Gramian to second-order network systems. Based on it, we develop an efficient method to compute H2-norms and derive the approximation error between the full-order and reduced-order models. Finally, the approach is illustrated by the example of a small-world network

Joint Centrality Distinguishes Optimal Leaders in Noisy Networks

We study the performance of a network of agents tasked with tracking an external unknown signal in the presence of stochastic disturbances and under the condition that only a limited subset of agents, known as leaders, can measure the signal directly. We investigate the optimal leader selection problem for a prescribed maximum number of leaders, where the optimal leader set minimizes total system error defined as steady-state variance about the external signal. In contrast to previously established greedy algorithms for optimal leader selection, our results rely on an expression of total system error in terms of properties of the underlying network graph. We demonstrate that the performance of any given set of leaders depends on their influence as determined by a new graph measure of centrality of a set. We define the $joint \; centrality$ of a set of nodes in a network graph such that a leader set with maximal joint centrality is an optimal leader set. In the case of a single leader, we prove that the optimal leader is the node with maximal information centrality. In the case of multiple leaders, we show that the nodes in the optimal leader set balance high information centrality with a coverage of the graph. For special cases of graphs, we solve explicitly for optimal leader sets. We illustrate with examples.Comment: Conditionally accepted to IEEE TCN

Hamiltonian System Approach to Distributed Spectral Decomposition in Networks

Because of the significant increase in size and complexity of the networks, the distributed computation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of graph matrices has become very challenging and yet it remains as important as before. In this paper we develop efficient distributed algorithms to detect, with higher resolution, closely situated eigenvalues and corresponding eigenvectors of symmetric graph matrices. We model the system of graph spectral computation as physical systems with Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics. The spectrum of Laplacian matrix, in particular, is framed as a classical spring-mass system with Lagrangian dynamics. The spectrum of any general symmetric graph matrix turns out to have a simple connection with quantum systems and it can be thus formulated as a solution to a Schr\"odinger-type differential equation. Taking into account the higher resolution requirement in the spectrum computation and the related stability issues in the numerical solution of the underlying differential equation, we propose the application of symplectic integrators to the calculation of eigenspectrum. The effectiveness of the proposed techniques is demonstrated with numerical simulations on real-world networks of different sizes and complexities

New technologies and procurement and negotiation process support

The aim of this work is to present innovative IT solutions which can be widely applied in the area of procurement processes and accompanying negotiations, thereby contributing to the assessment of their practical applicability. Particular attention has been placed on Ariba Networks, a platform for procurement management. This work sources the latest literature in this field as well as research conducted in one of the largest worldwide companies operating in the Polish market of fast moving consumable goods.Preparation and printing funded by the National Agency for Research and Development under project “Kreator Innowacyjności – wparcie dla Przedsiębiorczości akademickiej

Surface networks

© Copyright CASA, UCL. The desire to understand and exploit the structure of continuous surfaces is common to researchers in a range of disciplines. Few examples of the varied surfaces forming an integral part of modern subjects include terrain, population density, surface atmospheric pressure, physico-chemical surfaces, computer graphics, and metrological surfaces. The focus of the work here is a group of data structures called Surface Networks, which abstract 2-dimensional surfaces by storing only the most important (also called fundamental, critical or surface-specific) points and lines in the surfaces. Surface networks are intelligent and “natural ” data structures because they store a surface as a framework of “surface ” elements unlike the DEM or TIN data structures. This report presents an overview of the previous works and the ideas being developed by the authors of this report. The research on surface networks has fou

Mean-field analysis of the q-voter model on networks

We present a detailed investigation of the behavior of the nonlinear q-voter model for opinion dynamics. At the mean-field level we derive analytically, for any value of the number q of agents involved in the elementary update, the phase diagram, the exit probability and the consensus time at the transition point. The mean-field formalism is extended to the case that the interaction pattern is given by generic heterogeneous networks. We finally discuss the case of random regular networks and compare analytical results with simulations.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure

Online Learning of Dynamic Parameters in Social Networks

This paper addresses the problem of online learning in a dynamic setting. We consider a social network in which each individual observes a private signal about the underlying state of the world and communicates with her neighbors at each time period. Unlike many existing approaches, the underlying state is dynamic, and evolves according to a geometric random walk. We view the scenario as an optimization problem where agents aim to learn the true state while suffering the smallest possible loss. Based on the decomposition of the global loss function, we introduce two update mechanisms, each of which generates an estimate of the true state. We establish a tight bound on the rate of change of the underlying state, under which individuals can track the parameter with a bounded variance. Then, we characterize explicit expressions for the steady state mean-square deviation(MSD) of the estimates from the truth, per individual. We observe that only one of the estimators recovers the optimal MSD, which underscores the impact of the objective function decomposition on the learning quality. Finally, we provide an upper bound on the regret of the proposed methods, measured as an average of errors in estimating the parameter in a finite time.Comment: 12 pages, To appear in Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) 201