1,529 research outputs found
Are Opinions Based on Science: Modelling Social Response to Scientific Facts
As scientists we like to think that modern societies and their members base
their views, opinions and behaviour on scientific facts. This is not
necessarily the case, even though we are all (over-) exposed to information
flow through various channels of media, i.e. newspapers, television, radio,
internet, and web. It is thought that this is mainly due to the conflicting
information on the mass media and to the individual attitude (formed by
cultural, educational and environmental factors), that is, one external factor
and another personal factor. In this paper we will investigate the dynamical
development of opinion in a small population of agents by means of a
computational model of opinion formation in a co-evolving network of socially
linked agents. The personal and external factors are taken into account by
assigning an individual attitude parameter to each agent, and by subjecting all
to an external but homogeneous field to simulate the effect of the media. We
then adjust the field strength in the model by using actual data on scientific
perception surveys carried out in two different populations, which allow us to
compare two different societies. We interpret the model findings with the aid
of simple mean field calculations. Our results suggest that scientifically
sound concepts are more difficult to acquire than concepts not validated by
science, since opposing individuals organize themselves in close communities
that prevent opinion consensus.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to PLoS ON
The diplomat's dilemma: Maximal power for minimal effort in social networks
Closeness is a global measure of centrality in networks, and a proxy for how
influential actors are in social networks. In most network models, and many
empirical networks, closeness is strongly correlated with degree. However, in
social networks there is a cost of maintaining social ties. This leads to a
situation (that can occur in the professional social networks of executives,
lobbyists, diplomats and so on) where agents have the conflicting objectives of
aiming for centrality while simultaneously keeping the degree low. We
investigate this situation in an adaptive network-evolution model where agents
optimize their positions in the network following individual strategies, and
using only local information. The strategies are also optimized, based on the
success of the agent and its neighbors. We measure and describe the time
evolution of the network and the agents' strategies.Comment: Submitted to Adaptive Networks: Theory, Models and Applications, to
be published from Springe
The networked seceder model: Group formation in social and economic systems
The seceder model illustrates how the desire to be different than the average
can lead to formation of groups in a population. We turn the original, agent
based, seceder model into a model of network evolution. We find that the
structural characteristics our model closely matches empirical social networks.
Statistics for the dynamics of group formation are also given. Extensions of
the model to networks of companies are also discussed
The dependence of strange hadron multiplicities on the speed of hadronization
Hadron multiplicities are calculated in the ALCOR model for the Pb+Pb
collisions at CERN SPS energy. Considering the newest experimental results, we
display our prediction obtained from the ALCOR model for stable hadrons
including strange baryons and anti-baryons.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX in IOP style, appeared in the Proceedings of
Strangeness'97 Conference, Santorini, April 14-18 1997, J. of Physics G23
(1997) 194
Strangeness counting in high energy collisions
The estimates of overall strange quark production in high energy e+e-, pp and
ppbar collisions by using the statistical-thermal model of hadronisation are
presented and compared with previous works. The parametrization of strangeness
suppression within the model is discussed. Interesting regularities emerge in
the strange/non-strange produced quark ratio which turns out to be fairly
constant in elementary collisions while it is twice as large in SPS heavy ion
collision.Comment: talk given at Strangeness in Quark Matter 98, submitted to J. Phys.
Dynamic scaling regimes of collective decision making
We investigate a social system of agents faced with a binary choice. We
assume there is a correct, or beneficial, outcome of this choice. Furthermore,
we assume agents are influenced by others in making their decision, and that
the agents can obtain information that may guide them towards making a correct
decision. The dynamic model we propose is of nonequilibrium type, converging to
a final decision. We run it on random graphs and scale-free networks. On random
graphs, we find two distinct regions in terms of the "finalizing time" -- the
time until all agents have finalized their decisions. On scale-free networks on
the other hand, there does not seem to be any such distinct scaling regions
Edge overload breakdown in evolving networks
We investigate growing networks based on Barabasi and Albert's algorithm for
generating scale-free networks, but with edges sensitive to overload breakdown.
the load is defined through edge betweenness centrality. We focus on the
situation where the average number of connections per vertex is, as the number
of vertices, linearly increasing in time. After an initial stage of growth, the
network undergoes avalanching breakdowns to a fragmented state from which it
never recovers. This breakdown is much less violent if the growth is by random
rather than preferential attachment (as defines the Barabasi and Albert model).
We briefly discuss the case where the average number of connections per vertex
is constant. In this case no breakdown avalanches occur. Implications to the
growth of real-world communication networks are discussed.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.
Neutral theory of chemical reaction networks
To what extent do the characteristic features of a chemical reaction network
reflect its purpose and function? In general, one argues that correlations
between specific features and specific functions are key to understanding a
complex structure. However, specific features may sometimes be neutral and
uncorrelated with any system-specific purpose, function or causal chain. Such
neutral features are caused by chance and randomness. Here we compare two
classes of chemical networks: one that has been subjected to biological
evolution (the chemical reaction network of metabolism in living cells) and one
that has not (the atmospheric planetary chemical reaction networks). Their
degree distributions are shown to share the very same neutral
system-independent features. The shape of the broad distributions is to a large
extent controlled by a single parameter, the network size. From this
perspective, there is little difference between atmospheric and metabolic
networks; they are just different sizes of the same random assembling network.
In other words, the shape of the degree distribution is a neutral
characteristic feature and has no functional or evolutionary implications in
itself; it is not a matter of life and death.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
Cascade-based attacks on complex networks
We live in a modern world supported by large, complex networks. Examples
range from financial markets to communication and transportation systems. In
many realistic situations the flow of physical quantities in the network, as
characterized by the loads on nodes, is important. We show that for such
networks where loads can redistribute among the nodes, intentional attacks can
lead to a cascade of overload failures, which can in turn cause the entire or a
substantial part of the network to collapse. This is relevant for real-world
networks that possess a highly heterogeneous distribution of loads, such as the
Internet and power grids. We demonstrate that the heterogeneity of these
networks makes them particularly vulnerable to attacks in that a large-scale
cascade may be triggered by disabling a single key node. This brings obvious
concerns on the security of such systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Revte
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