The Evolution of Complex Networks: A New Framework

This article reviews and evaluates models of network evolution based on the notion of structural diversity. We show that diversity is an underlying theme of three principles of network evolution: the preferential attachment model, connectivity and link prediction. We show that in all three cases, a dominant trend towards shrinking diversity is apparent, both theoretically and empirically. In previous work, many kinds of different data have been modeled as networks: social str...

We propose generalizations of a number of standard network models, including the classic random graph, the configuration model, and the stochastic block model, to the case of time-varying networks. We assume that the presence and absence of edges are governed by continuous-time Markov processes with rate parameters that can depend on properties of the nodes. In addition to computing equilibrium properties of these models, we demonstrate their use in data analysis and statisti...

Many social, technological, biological, and economical systems are best described by weighted networks, whose properties and dynamics depend not only on their structures but also on the connection weights among their nodes. However, most existing research work on complex network models are concentrated on network structures, with connection weights among their nodes being either 1 or 0. In this paper, we propose a new weighted evolving network model. Numerical simulations ind...

The work presented in this thesis concerns different aspects of dynamical processes on networks. The first subject considered is the theoretical modeling of exploration processes of complex networks, such as the ``traceroute'' process used to map the Internet. Our mean-field analysis of the traceroute model provides a better understanding of the Internet topology. A second part of the thesis is devoted to the study of the weighted representation of networks and their relation...

Complex network theory has been used to study complex systems. However, many real-life systems involve multiple kinds of objects . They can't be described by simple graphs. In order to provide complete information of these systems, we extend the concept of evolving models of complex networks to hypernetworks. In this work, we firstly propose a non-uniform hypernetwork model with attractiveness, and obtain the stationary average hyperdegree distribution of the non-uniform hype...

NetEvo is a computational framework designed to help understand the evolution of dynamical complex networks. It provides flexible tools for the simulation of dynamical processes on networks and methods for the evolution of underlying topological structures. The concept of a supervisor is used to bring together both these aspects in a coherent way. It is the job of the supervisor to rewire the network topology and alter model parameters such that a user specified performance m...

In search of many social and economical systems, it is found that node strength distribution as well as degree distribution demonstrate the behavior of power-law with droop-head and heavy-tail. We present a new model for the growth of weighted networks considering the connection of nodes with low strengths. Numerical simulations indicate that this network model yields three power-law distributions of the node degrees, node strengths and connection weights. Particularly, the d...

Here we provide a detailed analysis, along with some extensions and additonal investigations, of a recently proposed self-organised model for the evolution of complex networks. Vertices of the network are characterised by a fitness variable evolving through an extremal dynamics process, as in the Bak-Sneppen model representing a prototype of Self-Organized Criticality. The network topology is in turn shaped by the fitness variable itself, as in the fitness network model. The ...

Trends change rapidly in today's world, prompting this key question: What is the mechanism behind the emergence of new trends? By representing real-world dynamic systems as complex networks, the emergence of new trends can be symbolized by vertices that "shine." That is, at a specific time interval in a network's life, certain vertices become increasingly connected to other vertices. This process creates new high-degree vertices, i.e., network stars. Thus, to study trends, we...

Knowing how and when trends are formed is a frequently visited research goal. In our work, we focus on the progression of trends through (social) networks. We use a random graph (RG) model to mimic the progression of a trend through the network. The context of the trend is not included in our model. We show that every state of the RG model maps to a state of the Polya process. We find that the limit of the component size distribution of the RG model shows power-law behaviour....