Impact of different interaction behavior on epidemic spreading in time-dependent social networks

We investigate the impact of pairwise and group interactions on the spread of epidemics through an activity-driven model based on time-dependent networks.The effects of pairwise/group interaction proportion and pairwise/group interaction intensity are explored by extensive simulation and theoretical analysis.It is demonstrated that altering the group interaction proportion can either hinder or enhance the spread of epidemics,depending on the relative social intensity of group and pairwise interactions.As the group interaction proportion decreases,the impact of reducing group social intensity diminishes.The ratio of group and pairwise social intensity can affect the effect of group interaction proportion on the scale of infection.A weak heterogeneous activity distribution can raise the epidemic threshold,and reduce the scale of infection.These results benefit the design of epidemic control strategy.

Social Robot Detection Method with Improved Graph Neural Networks

Social robot accounts controlled by artificial intelligence or humans are active in social networks,bringing negative impacts to network security and social life.Existing social robot detection methods based on graph neural networks suffer from the problem of many social network nodes and complex relationships,which makes it difficult to accurately describe the difference between the topological relations of nodes,resulting in low detection accuracy of social robots.This paper proposes a social robot detection method with the use of an improved neural network.First,social relationship subgraphs are constructed by leveraging the user’s social network to disentangle intricate social relationships effectively.Then,a linear modulated graph attention residual network model is devised to extract the node and network topology features of the social relation subgraph,thereby generating comprehensive social relation subgraph features,and the feature-wise linear modulation module of the model can better learn the differences between the nodes.Next,user text content and behavioral gene sequences are extracted to construct social behavioral features combined with the social relationship subgraph features.Finally,social robots can be more accurately identified by combining user behavioral and relationship features.By carrying out experimental studies based on the publicly available datasets TwiBot-20 and Cresci-15,the suggested method’s detection accuracies can achieve 86.73%and 97.86%,respectively.Compared with the existing mainstream approaches,the accuracy of the proposed method is 2.2%and 1.35%higher on the two datasets.The results show that the method proposed in this paper can effectively detect social robots and maintain a healthy ecological environment of social networks.

CRB:A new rumor blocking algorithm in online social networks based on competitive spreading model and influence maximization

The virtuality and openness of online social platforms make networks a hotbed for the rapid propagation of various rumors.In order to block the outbreak of rumor,one of the most effective containment measures is spreading positive information to counterbalance the diffusion of rumor.The spreading mechanism of rumors and effective suppression strategies are significant and challenging research issues.Firstly,in order to simulate the dissemination of multiple types of information,we propose a competitive linear threshold model with state transition(CLTST)to describe the spreading process of rumor and anti-rumor in the same network.Subsequently,we put forward a community-based rumor blocking(CRB)algorithm based on influence maximization theory in social networks.Its crucial step is to identify a set of influential seeds that propagate anti-rumor information to other nodes,which includes community detection,selection of candidate anti-rumor seeds and generation of anti-rumor seed set.Under the CLTST model,the CRB algorithm has been compared with six state-of-the-art algorithms on nine online social networks to verify the performance.Experimental results show that the proposed model can better reflect the process of rumor propagation,and review the propagation mechanism of rumor and anti-rumor in online social networks.Moreover,the proposed CRB algorithm has better performance in weakening the rumor dissemination ability,which can select anti-rumor seeds in networks more accurately and achieve better performance in influence spread,sensitivity analysis,seeds distribution and running time.

Identifying influential spreaders in social networks: A two-stage quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization with Lévy flight

The influence maximization problem aims to select a small set of influential nodes, termed a seed set, to maximize their influence coverage in social networks. Although the methods that are based on a greedy strategy can obtain good accuracy, they come at the cost of enormous computational time, and are therefore not applicable to practical scenarios in large-scale networks. In addition, the centrality heuristic algorithms that are based on network topology can be completed in relatively less time. However, they tend to fail to achieve satisfactory results because of drawbacks such as overlapped influence spread. In this work, we propose a discrete two-stage metaheuristic optimization combining quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization with Lévy flight to identify a set of the most influential spreaders. According to the framework,first, the particles in the population are tasked to conduct an exploration in the global solution space to eventually converge to an acceptable solution through the crossover and replacement operations. Second, the Lévy flight mechanism is used to perform a wandering walk on the optimal candidate solution in the population to exploit the potentially unidentified influential nodes in the network. Experiments on six real-world social networks show that the proposed algorithm achieves more satisfactory results when compared to other well-known algorithms.

Habits on Social Networks at Workplace: A Survey of Motivations and Behaviour

This article explores the use of social networks by workers in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, with particular emphasis on a descriptive or quantitative analysis aimed at understanding motivations and methods of use. More than five hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed, highlighting workers’ preferred digital channels and platforms. The results indicate that the majority use social media through their mobile phones, with WhatsApp being the most popular app, followed by Facebook and LinkedIn. The study reveals that workers use social media for entertainment purposes and to develop professional and social relationships, with 55% unable to live without social media at work for recreational activities. In addition, 35% spend on average 1 to 2 hours on social networks, mainly between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. It also appears that 46% believe that social networks moderately improve their productivity. These findings can guide marketing strategies, training, technology development and government policies related to the use of social media in the workplace.

A Genetic Algorithm for Identifying Overlapping Communities in Social Networks Using an Optimized Search Space

There are currently many approaches to identify the community structure of a network, but relatively few specific to detect overlapping community structures. Likewise, there are few networks with ground truth overlapping nodes. For this reason,we introduce a new network, Pilgrim, with known overlapping nodes, and a new genetic algorithm for detecting such nodes. Pilgrim is comprised of a variety of structures including two communities with dense overlap,which is common in real social structures. This study initially explores the potential of the community detection algorithm LabelRank for consistent overlap detection;however, the deterministic nature of this algorithm restricts it to very few candidate solutions. Therefore, we propose a genetic algorithm using a restricted edge-based clustering technique to detect overlapping communities by maximizing an efficient overlapping modularity function. The proposed restriction to the edge-based representation precludes the possibility of disjoint communities, thereby, dramatically reducing the search space and decreasing the number of generations required to produce an optimal solution. A tunable parameterr allows the strictness of the definition of overlap to be adjusted allowing for refinement in the number of identified overlapping nodes. Our method, tested on several real social networks, yields results comparable to the most effective overlapping community detection algorithms to date.

Mitigation Strategy against Cascading Failures on Social Networks

Cascading failures are common phenomena in many of real-world networks,such as power grids,Internet,transportation networks and social networks.It's worth noting that once one or a few users on a social network are unavailable for some reasons,they are more likely to influence a large portion of social network.Therefore,an effective mitigation strategy is very critical for avoiding or reducing the impact of cascading failures.In this paper,we firstly quantify the user loads and construct the processes of cascading dynamics,then elaborate the more reasonable mechanism of sharing the extra user loads with considering the features of social networks,and further propose a novel mitigation strategy on social networks against cascading failures.Based on the realworld social network datasets,we evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the novel mitigation strategy.The experimental results show that this mitigation strategy can reduce the impact of cascading failures effectively and maintain the network connectivity better with lower cost.These findings are very useful for rationally advertising and may be helpful for avoiding various disasters of cascading failures on many real-world networks.

The Research on Social Networks Public Opinion Propagation Influence Models and Its Controllability

Public opinion propagation control is one of the hot topics in contemporary social network research. With the rapid dissemination of information over the Internet, the traditional isolation and vaccination strategies can no longer achieve satisfactory results. A positive guidance technology for public opinion diffusion is urgently needed. First, based on the analysis of influence network controllability and public opinion diffusion, a positive guidance technology is proposed and a new model that supports external control is established. Second, in combination with the influence network, a public opinion propagation influence network model is designed and a public opinion control point selection algorithm(POCDNSA) is proposed. Finally, An experiment verified that this algorithm can lead to users receiving the correct guidance quickly and accurately, reducing the impact of false public opinion information; the effect of CELF is no better than that of the POCDNSA algorithm. The main reason is that the former is completely based on the diffusion cascade information contained in the training data, but does not consider the specific situation of the network structure and the diffusion of public opinion information in the closed set. thus, the effectiveness and feasibility of the algorithm is proven. The findings of this article therefore provide useful insights for the implementation of public opinion control.

Modeling online social networks based on preferential linking

We study the phenomena of preferential linking in a large-scale evolving online social network and find that the linear preference holds for preferential creation, preferential acceptance, and preferential attachment. Based on the linear preference, we propose an analyzable model, which illustrates the mechanism of network growth and reproduces the process of network evolution. Our simulations demonstrate that the degree distribution of the network produced by the model is in good agreement with that of the real network. This work provides a possible bridge between the micro=mechanisms of network growth and the macrostructures of online social networks.

Citation and bibliographic coupling between authors in the field of social network analysis

Purpose:We analyzed the structure of a community of authors working in the field of social network analysis(SNA)based on citation indicators:direct citation and bibliographic coupling metrics.We observed patterns at the micro,meso,and macro levels of analysis.Design/methodology/approach:We used bibliometric network analysis,including the“temporal quantities”approach proposed to study temporal networks.Using a two-mode network linking publications with authors and a one-mode network of citations between the works,we constructed and analyzed the networks of citation and bibliographic coupling among authors.We used an iterated saturation data collection approach.Findings:At the macro-level,we observed the global structural features of citations between authors,showing that 80%of authors have not more than 15 citations from other works.At the meso-level,we extracted the groups of authors citing each other and similar to each other according to their citation patterns.We have seen a division of authors in SNA into groups of social scientists and physicists,as well as into other groups of authors from different disciplines.We found some examples of brokerage between different groups that maintained the common identity of the field.At the micro-level,we extracted authors with extremely high values of received citations,who can be considered as the most prominent authors in the field.We examined the temporal properties of the most popular authors.Research limitations:The main challenge in this approach is the resolution of the author’s name(synonyms and homonyms).We faced the author disambiguation,or“multiple personalities”(Harzing,2015)problem.To remain consistent and comparable with our previously published articles,we used the same SNA data collected up to 2018.The analysis and conclusions on the activity,productivity,and visibility of the authors are relative only to the field of SNA.Practical implications:The proposed approach can be utilized for similar objectives and identifying key structures and characteristics in other disciplines.This may potentially inspire the application of network approaches in other research areas,creating more authors collaborating in the field of SNA.Originality/value:We identified and applied an innovative approach and methods to study the structure of scientific communities,which allowed us to get the findings going beyond those obtained with other methods.We used a new approach to temporal network analysis,which is an important addition to the analysis as it provides detailed information on different measures for the authors and pairs of authors over time.

Examining Relations of Aggressive Communication in Social Networks

Aim of this research is the detection of aggressive communication parameters and typology. A network sample of 62 students (male = 32, female = 30) and 4 instructors (male = 2, female = 2) at the physical education and sport sciences dept. at the University of Thessaly has been collected in 2016. A standardized questionnaire consisting of network and non-network part was used. Social network analysis (algebraic analysis) combined with conventional statistics has been used. Basic results are the following ones: Persons dedicated to sport appear to target others and be targeted. Dedication to study content is proved to play a role of a refuge against criticism. High grade and ambition seem to protect against negative comments. Physical qualification (tallness) seems also to discourage rudeness. Spatial-regional discrimination is also revealed. Mockery seems to be even a cause of absence from the courses. A superiority-induced aggressiveness (on economic basis) has been detected. Threat may be regarded as a behavioral extension of mockery (or inversely). In the course of study time, more aggressive persons emerge who even threat others. High grade students are unattractive for arguing. Internet seems to develop communication stimuli. The tendency for professional distinction is connected with arguing. Younger students show an integration deficit in terms of argumentation. Communicational types (three profiles of targets: “depreciated assaulted”, “attractive”, “repellent”, and two profiles of general involvement: “lively”, “controversial”) have emerged. A typology of targets is depicting a sharper fragmentation than a typology of general involvement (targeted and acting).

Optimal Deep Learning-based Cyberattack Detection and Classification Technique on Social Networks

Cyberbullying(CB)is a distressing online behavior that disturbs mental health significantly.Earlier studies have employed statistical and Machine Learning(ML)techniques for CB detection.With this motivation,the current paper presents an Optimal Deep Learning-based Cyberbullying Detection and Classification(ODL-CDC)technique for CB detection in social networks.The proposed ODL-CDC technique involves different processes such as pre-processing,prediction,and hyperparameter optimization.In addition,GloVe approach is employed in the generation of word embedding.Besides,the pre-processed data is fed into BidirectionalGated Recurrent Neural Network(BiGRNN)model for prediction.Moreover,hyperparameter tuning of BiGRNN model is carried out with the help of Search and Rescue Optimization(SRO)algorithm.In order to validate the improved classification performance of ODL-CDC technique,a comprehensive experimental analysis was carried out upon benchmark dataset and the results were inspected under varying aspects.A detailed comparative study portrayed the superiority of the proposed ODL-CDC technique over recent techniques,in terms of performance,with the maximum accuracy of 92.45%.

Deep Learning Social Network Access Control Model Based on User Preferences

A deep learning access controlmodel based on user preferences is proposed to address the issue of personal privacy leakage in social networks.Firstly,socialusers andsocialdata entities are extractedfromthe social networkandused to construct homogeneous and heterogeneous graphs.Secondly,a graph neural networkmodel is designed based on user daily social behavior and daily social data to simulate the dissemination and changes of user social preferences and user personal preferences in the social network.Then,high-order neighbor nodes,hidden neighbor nodes,displayed neighbor nodes,and social data nodes are used to update user nodes to expand the depth and breadth of user preferences.Finally,a multi-layer attention network is used to classify user nodes in the homogeneous graph into two classes:allow access and deny access.The fine-grained access control problem in social networks is transformed into a node classification problem in a graph neural network.The model is validated using a dataset and compared with other methods without losing generality.The model improved accuracy by 2.18%compared to the baseline method GraphSAGE,and improved F1 score by 1.45%compared to the baseline method,verifying the effectiveness of the model.

Predicting Users’ Latent Suicidal Risk in Social Media: An Ensemble Model Based on Social Network Relationships

Suicide has become a critical concern,necessitating the development of effective preventative strategies.Social media platforms offer a valuable resource for identifying signs of suicidal ideation.Despite progress in detecting suicidal ideation on social media,accurately identifying individuals who express suicidal thoughts less openly or infrequently poses a significant challenge.To tackle this,we have developed a dataset focused on Chinese suicide narratives from Weibo’s Tree Hole feature and introduced an ensemble model named Text Convolutional Neural Network based on Social Network relationships(TCNN-SN).This model enhances predictive performance by leveraging social network relationship features and applying correction factors within a weighted linear fusion framework.It is specifically designed to identify key individuals who can help uncover hidden suicidal users and clusters.Our model,assessed using the bespoke dataset and benchmarked against alternative classification approaches,demonstrates superior accuracy,F1-score and AUC metrics,achieving 88.57%,88.75%and 94.25%,respectively,outperforming traditional TextCNN models by 12.18%,10.84%and 10.85%.We assert that our methodology offers a significant advancement in the predictive identification of individuals at risk,thereby contributing to the prevention and reduction of suicide incidences.

Evolution and Governance of the Structure of Marine Economic Networks in China’s Coastal Areas: Based on Sea-related A-share Listed Companies

Data on discrete,isolated attributes of the marine economy are often used in traditional marine economic research.However,as the focus of urban research shifts from internal static attributes to external dynamic linkages,the importance of marine economic net-work research is beginning to emerge.The construction of the marine economic network in China’s coastal areas is necessary to change the flow of land and sea resources and optimize regional marine economic development.Employing data from headquarters and branches of sea-related A-share listed enterprises to construct the marine economic network in China,we use social network analysis(SNA)to discuss the characteristics of its evolution as of 2010,2015,and 2020 and its governance.The following results were obtained.1)In terms of topological characteristics,the scale of the marine economic network in China’s coastal areas has accelerated and expan-ded,and the connections have become increasingly close;thus,this development has complex network characteristics.2)In terms of spatial structure,the intensity of the connection fluctuates and does not form stable development support;the group structure gradually becomes clear,but the overall pattern is fragmented;there are spatial differences in marine economic agglomeration radiation;the radi-ation effect of the eastern marine economic circle is obvious;and the polarization effect of northern and southern marine economic circles is significant.On this basis,we construct a framework for the governance of a marine economic network with the market,the government,and industry as the three governing bodies.By clarifying the driving factors and building objectives of marine economic network construction,this study aims to foster the high-quality development of China’s marine economy.

Identifying influential nodes in social networks via community structure and influence distribution difference

This paper aims to effectively solve the problem of the influence maximization in social networks.For this purpose,an influence maximization method that can identify influential nodes via the community structure and the influence distribution difference is proposed.Firstly,the network embedding-based community detection approach is developed,by which the social network is divided into several high-quality communities.Secondly,the solution of influence maximization is composed of the candidate stage and the greedy stage.The candidate stage is to select candidate nodes from the interior and the boundary of each community using a heuristic algorithm,and the greedy stage is to determine seed nodes with the largest marginal influence increment from the candidate set through the sub-modular property-based Greedy algorithm.Finally,experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method compared with existing methods,from which one can further find that our work can achieve a good tradeoff between the influence spread and the running time.

Recommending Friends Instantly in Location-based Mobile Social Networks

Differently from the general online social network(OSN),locationbased mobile social network(LMSN),which seamlessly integrates mobile computing and social computing technologies,has unique characteristics of temporal,spatial and social correlation.Recommending friends instantly based on current location of users in the real world has become increasingly popular in LMSN.However,the existing friend recommendation methods based on topological structures of a social network or non-topological information such as similar user profiles cannot well address the instant making friends in the real world.In this article,we analyze users' check-in behavior in a real LMSN site named Gowalla.According to this analysis,we present an approach of recommending friends instantly for LMSN users by considering the real-time physical location proximity,offline behavior similarity and friendship network information in the virtual community simultaneously.This approach effectively bridges the gap between the offline behavior of users in the real world and online friendship network information in the virtual community.Finally,we use the real user check-in dataset of Gowalla to verify the effectiveness of our approach.

Network analysis of the relationships between depressive symptoms and social participation activities among Chinese older adults and its implications for nursing

Objective:Network analysis was used to explore the complex inter-relationships between social participation activities and depressive symptoms among the Chinese older population,and the differences in network structures among different genders,age groups,and urban-rural residency would be compared.Methods:Based on the 2018 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey(CLHLS),12,043 people aged 65 to 105 were included.The 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression(CESD)Scale was used to assess depressive symptoms and 10 types of social participation activities were collected,including housework,tai-chi,square dancing,visiting and interacting with friends,garden work,reading newspapers or books,raising domestic animals,playing cards or mahjong,watching TV or listening to radio,and organized social activities.R 4.2.1 software was used to estimate the network model and calculate strength and bridge strength.Results:21.60%(2,601/12,043)of the participants had depressive symptoms.The total social participation score was negatively associated with depressive symptoms after adjusting for sociodemographic factors.The network of social participation and depressive symptoms showed that“D9(Inability to get going)”and“S9(Watching TV and/or listening to the radio)”had the highest strength within depressive symptoms and social participation communities,respectively,and“S1(Housework)”,“S9(Watching TV and/or listening to the radio)”,and“D5(Hopelessness)”were the most prominent bridging nodes between the two communities.Most edges linking the two communities were negative.“S5(Graden work)-D5(Hopelessness)”and“S6(Reading newspapers/books)-D4(Everything was an effort)”were the top 2 strongest negative edges.Older females had significantly denser network structures than older males.Compared to older people aged 65e80,the age group 81e105 showed higher network global strength.Conclusions:This study provides novel insights into the complex relationships between social participation and depressive symptoms.Except for doing housework,other social participation activities were found to be protective for depression levels.Different nursing strategies should be taken to prevent and alleviate depressive symptoms for different genders and older people of different ages.

Opinion consensus incorporating higher-order interactions in individual-collective networks

In the current information society, the dissemination mechanisms and evolution laws of individual or collective opinions and their behaviors are the research hot topics in the field of opinion dynamics. First, in this paper, a two-layer network consisting of an individual-opinion layer and a collective-opinion layer is constructed, and a dissemination model of opinions incorporating higher-order interactions(i.e. OIHOI dissemination model) is proposed. Furthermore, the dynamic equations of opinion dissemination for both individuals and groups are presented. Using Lyapunov's first method,two equilibrium points, including the negative consensus point and positive consensus point, and the dynamic equations obtained for opinion dissemination, are analyzed theoretically. In addition, for individual opinions and collective opinions,some conditions for reaching negative consensus and positive consensus as well as the theoretical expression for the dissemination threshold are put forward. Numerical simulations are carried to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results, as well as the influence of the intra-structure, inter-connections, and higher-order interactions on the dissemination and evolution of individual opinions. The main results are as follows.(i) When the intra-structure of the collective-opinion layer meets certain characteristics, then a negative or positive consensus is easier to reach for individuals.(ii) Both negative consensus and positive consensus perform best in mixed type of inter-connections in the two-layer network.(iii) Higher-order interactions can quickly eliminate differences in individual opinions, thereby enabling individuals to reach consensus faster.

QoE-Driven Social Aware Caching Placement for Terrestrial-Satellite Networks

In remote terrestrial-satellite networks, caching is a very promising technique to alleviate the burden of space cloudlet(e.g., cache-enabled satellite user terminal) and to improve subscribers' quality of experience(Qo E) in terms of buffering delay and achievable video streaming rate. In this paper, we studied a Qo E-driven caching placement optimization problem for video streaming that takes into account the required video streaming rate and the social relationship among users. Social ties between users are used to designate a set of helpers with caching capability, which can cache popular files proactively when the cloudlet is idle. We model the utility function of Qo E as a logarithmic function. Then, the caching placement problem is formulated as an optimization problem to maximize the user's average Qo E subject to the storage capacity constraints of the helpers and the cloudlets. Furthermore, we reformulate the problem into a monotone submodular optimization problem with a partition matroid constraint, and an efficient greedy algorithm with 1-1 e approximation ratio is proposed to solve it. Simulation results show that the proposed caching placement approach significantly outperforms the traditional approaches in terms of Qo E, while yields about the same delay and hit ratio performance compare to the delay-minimized scheme.