28,218 research outputs found
Mesoscopic organization reveals the constraints governing C. elegans nervous system
One of the biggest challenges in biology is to understand how activity at the
cellular level of neurons, as a result of their mutual interactions, leads to
the observed behavior of an organism responding to a variety of environmental
stimuli. Investigating the intermediate or mesoscopic level of organization in
the nervous system is a vital step towards understanding how the integration of
micro-level dynamics results in macro-level functioning. In this paper, we have
considered the somatic nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans,
for which the entire neuronal connectivity diagram is known. We focus on the
organization of the system into modules, i.e., neuronal groups having
relatively higher connection density compared to that of the overall network.
We show that this mesoscopic feature cannot be explained exclusively in terms
of considerations, such as optimizing for resource constraints (viz., total
wiring cost) and communication efficiency (i.e., network path length).
Comparison with other complex networks designed for efficient transport (of
signals or resources) implies that neuronal networks form a distinct class.
This suggests that the principal function of the network, viz., processing of
sensory information resulting in appropriate motor response, may be playing a
vital role in determining the connection topology. Using modular spectral
analysis, we make explicit the intimate relation between function and structure
in the nervous system. This is further brought out by identifying functionally
critical neurons purely on the basis of patterns of intra- and inter-modular
connections. Our study reveals how the design of the nervous system reflects
several constraints, including its key functional role as a processor of
information.Comment: Published version, Minor modifications, 16 pages, 9 figure
Max flow vitality in general and -planar graphs
The \emph{vitality} of an arc/node of a graph with respect to the maximum
flow between two fixed nodes and is defined as the reduction of the
maximum flow caused by the removal of that arc/node. In this paper we address
the issue of determining the vitality of arcs and/or nodes for the maximum flow
problem. We show how to compute the vitality of all arcs in a general
undirected graph by solving only max flow instances and, In
-planar graphs (directed or undirected) we show how to compute the vitality
of all arcs and all nodes in worst-case time. Moreover, after
determining the vitality of arcs and/or nodes, and given a planar embedding of
the graph, we can determine the vitality of a `contiguous' set of arcs/nodes in
time proportional to the size of the set.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Network-based ranking in social systems: three challenges
Ranking algorithms are pervasive in our increasingly digitized societies,
with important real-world applications including recommender systems, search
engines, and influencer marketing practices. From a network science
perspective, network-based ranking algorithms solve fundamental problems
related to the identification of vital nodes for the stability and dynamics of
a complex system. Despite the ubiquitous and successful applications of these
algorithms, we argue that our understanding of their performance and their
applications to real-world problems face three fundamental challenges: (i)
Rankings might be biased by various factors; (2) their effectiveness might be
limited to specific problems; and (3) agents' decisions driven by rankings
might result in potentially vicious feedback mechanisms and unhealthy systemic
consequences. Methods rooted in network science and agent-based modeling can
help us to understand and overcome these challenges.Comment: Perspective article. 9 pages, 3 figure
Transport in weighted networks: Partition into superhighways and roads
Transport in weighted networks is dominated by the minimum spanning tree
(MST), the tree connecting all nodes with the minimum total weight. We find
that the MST can be partitioned into two distinct components, having
significantly different transport properties, characterized by centrality --
number of times a node (or link) is used by transport paths. One component, the
{\it superhighways}, is the infinite incipient percolation cluster; for which
we find that nodes (or links) with high centrality dominate. For the other
component, {\it roads}, which includes the remaining nodes, low centrality
nodes dominate. We find also that the distribution of the centrality for the
infinite incipient percolation cluster satisfies a power law, with an exponent
smaller than that for the entire MST. The significance of this finding is that
one can improve significantly the global transport by improving a tiny fraction
of the network, the superhighways.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
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