34 research outputs found
Identifying the starting point of a spreading process in complex networks
When dealing with the dissemination of epidemics, one important question that
can be asked is the location where the contamination began. In this paper, we
analyze three spreading schemes and propose and validate an effective
methodology for the identification of the source nodes. The method is based on
the calculation of the centrality of the nodes on the sampled network,
expressed here by degree, betweenness, closeness and eigenvector centrality. We
show that the source node tends to have the highest measurement values. The
potential of the methodology is illustrated with respect to three theoretical
complex network models as well as a real-world network, the email network of
the University Rovira i Virgili