Collaboration networks from a large CV database: dynamics, topology and bonus impact

Understanding the dynamics of research production and collaboration may reveal better strategies for scientific careers, academic institutions and funding agencies. Here we propose the use of a large and multidisciplinar database of scientific curricula in Brazil, namely, the Lattes Platform, to study patterns of scientific production and collaboration. In this database, detailed information about publications and researchers are made available by themselves so that coauthorship is unambiguous and individuals can be evaluated by scientific productivity, geographical location and field of expertise. Our results show that the collaboration network is growing exponentially for the last three decades, with a distribution of number of collaborators per researcher that approaches a power-law as the network gets older. Moreover, both the distributions of number of collaborators and production per researcher obey power-law behaviors, regardless of the geographical location or field, suggesting that the same universal mechanism might be responsible for network growth and productivity.We also show that the collaboration network under investigation displays a typical assortative mixing behavior, where teeming researchers (i.e., with high degree) tend to collaborate with others alike. Finally, our analysis reveals that the distinctive collaboration profile of researchers awarded with governmental scholarships suggests a strong bonus impact on their productivity.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Comparison of echo state network output layer classification methods on noisy data

Echo state networks are a recently developed type of recurrent neural network where the internal layer is fixed with random weights, and only the output layer is trained on specific data. Echo state networks are increasingly being used to process spatiotemporal data in real-world settings, including speech recognition, event detection, and robot control. A strength of echo state networks is the simple method used to train the output layer - typically a collection of linear readout weights found using a least squares approach. Although straightforward to train and having a low computational cost to use, this method may not yield acceptable accuracy performance on noisy data. This study compares the performance of three echo state network output layer methods to perform classification on noisy data: using trained linear weights, using sparse trained linear weights, and using trained low-rank approximations of reservoir states. The methods are investigated experimentally on both synthetic and natural datasets. The experiments suggest that using regularized least squares to train linear output weights is superior on data with low noise, but using the low-rank approximations may significantly improve accuracy on datasets contaminated with higher noise levels.Comment: 8 pages. International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN 2017

A morphospace of functional configuration to assess configural breadth based on brain functional networks

The best approach to quantify human brain functional reconfigurations in response to varying cognitive demands remains an unresolved topic in network neuroscience. We propose that such functional reconfigurations may be categorized into three different types: i) Network Configural Breadth, ii) Task-to-Task transitional reconfiguration, and iii) Within-Task reconfiguration. In order to quantify these reconfigurations, we propose a mesoscopic framework focused on functional networks (FNs) or communities. To do so, we introduce a 2D network morphospace that relies on two novel mesoscopic metrics, Trapping Efficiency (TE) and Exit Entropy (EE), which capture topology and integration of information within and between a reference set of FNs. In this study, we use this framework to quantify the Network Configural Breadth across different tasks. We show that the metrics defining this morphospace can differentiate FNs, cognitive tasks and subjects. We also show that network configural breadth significantly predicts behavioral measures, such as episodic memory, verbal episodic memory, fluid intelligence and general intelligence. In essence, we put forth a framework to explore the cognitive space in a comprehensive manner, for each individual separately, and at different levels of granularity. This tool that can also quantify the FN reconfigurations that result from the brain switching between mental states.Comment: main article: 24 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. supporting information: 11 pages, 5 figure

Dynamical complexity in the perception-based network formation model

Many link formation mechanisms for the evolution of social networks have been successful to reproduce various empirical findings in social networks. However, they have largely ignored the fact that individuals make decisions on whether to create links to other individuals based on cost and benefit of linking, and the fact that individuals may use perception of the network in their decision making. In this paper, we study the evolution of social networks in terms of perception-based strategic link formation. Here each individual has her own perception of the actual network, and uses it to decide whether to create a link to another individual. An individual with the least perception accuracy can benefit from updating her perception using that of the most accurate individual via a new link. This benefit is compared to the cost of linking in decision making. Once a new link is created, it affects the accuracies of other individuals' perceptions, leading to a further evolution of the actual network. As for initial actual networks, we consider homogeneous and heterogeneous cases. The homogeneous initial actual network is modeled by Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi (ER) random networks, while we take a star network for the heterogeneous case. In any cases, individual perceptions of the actual network are modeled by ER random networks with controllable linking probability. Then the stable link density of the actual network is found to show discontinuous transitions or jumps according to the cost of linking. As the number of jumps is the consequence of the dynamical complexity, we discuss the effect of initial conditions on the number of jumps to find that the dynamical complexity strongly depends on how much individuals initially overestimate or underestimate the link density of the actual network. For the heterogeneous case, the role of the highly connected individual as an information spreader is discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure