Mathematical Modeling in Social Network Analysis： Using TOPSIS to Find Node Influences in a Social Network

In a social network analysis the output provided includes many measures and metrics. For each of these measures and metric, the output provides the ability to obtain a rank ordering of the nodes in terms of these measures. We might use this information in decision making concerning disrupting or deceiving a given network. All is fine when all the measures indicate the same node as the key or influential node. What happens when the measures indicate different key nodes？ Our goal in this paper is to explore two methodologies to identify the key players or nodes in a given network. We apply TOPSIS to analyze these outputs to find the most influential nodes as a function of the decision makers＇ inputs as a process to consider both subjective and objectives inputs through pairwise comparison matrices. We illustrate our results using two common networks from the literature： the Kite network and the Information flow network from Knoke and Wood. We discuss some basic sensitivity analysis can may be applied to the methods. We find the use of TOPSIS as a flexible method to weight the criterion based upon the decision makers＇ inputs or the topology of the network.

A comparative study of information diffusion in weblogs and microblogs based on social network analysis

Purpose: This paper intends to explore a quantitative method for investigating the characteristics of information diffusion through social media like weblogs and microblogs.By using the social network analysis methods,we attempt to analyze the different characteristics of information diffusion in weblogs and microblogs as well as the possible reasons of these differences.Design/methodology/approach: Using the social network analysis methods,this paper carries out an empirical study by taking the Chinese weblogs and microblogs in the field of Library and Information Science(LIS) as the research sample and employing measures such as network density,core/peripheral structure and centrality.Findings: Firstly,both bloggers and microbloggers maintain weak ties,and both of their social networks display a small-world effect. Secondly,compared with weblog users,microblog users are more interconnected,more equal and more capable of developing relationships with people outside their own social networks. Thirdly,the microblogging social network is more conducive to information diffusion than the blogging network,because of their differences in functions and the information flow mechanism. Finally,the communication mode emerged with microblogging,with the characteristics of micro-content,multi-channel information dissemination,dense and decentralized social network and content aggregation,will be one of the trends in the development of the information exchange platform in the future.Research limitations: The sample size needs to be increased so that samples are more representative. Errors may exist during the data collection. Moreover,the individual-level characteristics of the samples as well as the types of information exchanged need to be further studied.Practical implications: This preliminary study explores the characteristics of information diffusion in the network environment and verifies the feasibility of conducting a quantitative analysis of information diffusion through social media. In addition,it provides insight into the characteristics of information diffusion in weblogs and microblogs and the possible reasons of these differences.Originality/value: We have analyzed the characteristics of information diffusion in weblogs and microblogs by using the social network analysis methods. This research will be useful for a quantitative analysis of the underlying mechanisms of information flow through social media in the network environment.

Evaluations on social network analysis (SNA) research in China's Mainland:A critical assessment of journal literatures

Social network analysis(SNA) has been introduced to China's Mainland since the end of last century. It is often stated that SNA research has experienced rapid growth in China over these years, but few studies have been conducted to prove the statement. This paper aims at exploring the research status and development of SNA in China by a critical assessment of journal articles. Our findings show that SNA is an evolving and diversified research area which has rich themes and topics, and can be applied to those studies on different levels, context and disciplines, and attract researchers and scholars from various fields and domains. In addition, the information community(Library & Information Science and Information Systems) plays a leading role in the SNA related researches. The paper also points out the research on SNA in China has some limitations, so it proposes several implications for the future development of SNA research from perspectives of information science.

Research Hotspots and Trends Analysis of Real-World Data Based on Social Network Analysis and Knowledge Graph

Objective To study the research status,research hotspots and development trends in the field of real-world data(RWD)through social network analysis and knowledge graph analysis.Methods RWD of the past 10 years were retrieved,and literature metrological analysis was made by using UCINET and CiteSpace from CNKI.Results and Conclusion The frequency and centrality of related keywords such as real-world study,hospital information system(HIS),drug combination,data mining and TCM are high.The clusters labeled as clinical medication and RWD contain more keywords.In recent 4 years,there are more articles involving the keywords of data specification,data authenticity,data security and information security.Among them,compound Kushen injection,HIS database and RWD are the top three keywords.It is a long-term research hotspot for Chinese and western medicine to use HIS to study clinical medication,clinical characteristics,diseases and injections.Besides,the research of RWD database has changed from construction to standardized collection and governance,which can make RWD effective.Data authenticity,data security and information security will become the new hotspots in the research of RWD.

Analysis of Urban Agglomeration Network Structure Based on Baidu Migration Data: A Case Study of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Urban Agglomeration

The inter-city linkage heat data provided by Baidu Migration is employed as a characterization of inter-city linkages in order to facilitate the study of the network linkage characteristics and hierarchical structure of urban agglomeration in the Greater Bay Area through the use of social network analysis method.This is the inaugural application of big data based on location services in the study of urban agglomeration network structure,which represents a novel research perspective on this topic.The study reveals that the density of network linkages in the Greater Bay Area urban agglomeration has reached 100%,indicating a mature network-like spatial structure.This structure has given rise to three distinct communities:Shenzhen-Dongguan-Huizhou,Guangzhou-Foshan-Zhaoqing,and Zhuhai-Zhongshan-Jiangmen.Additionally,cities within the Greater Bay Area urban agglomeration play different roles,suggesting that varying development strategies may be necessary to achieve staggered development.The study demonstrates that large datasets represented by LBS can offer novel insights and methodologies for the examination of urban agglomeration network structures,contingent on the appropriate mining and processing of the data.

Social network analysis and network connectedness analysis for industrial symbiotic systems： model development and case study

An important and practical pattern of industrial symbiosis is rapidly developing： eco-industrial parks. In this study, we used social network analysis to study the network connectedness （i.e., the proportion of the theoretical number of connections that had been achieved） and related attributes of these hybrid ecological and industrial symbiotic systems. This approach provided insights into details of the network＇s interior and analyzed the overall degree of connectedness and the relationships among the nodes within the network. We then characterized the structural attributes of the network and subnetwork nodes at two levels （core and periphery）, thereby providing insights into the operational problems within each eco-industrial park. We chose ten typical eco-industrial parks in China and around the world and compared the degree of network connectedness of these systems that resulted from exchanges of products, byproducts, and wastes. By analyzing the density and nodal degree, we determined the relative power and status of the nodes in these networks, as well as other structural attributes such as the core-periphery structure and the degree of sub-network connectedness. The results reveal the operational problems created by the structure of the industrial networks and provide a basis for improving the degree of completeness, thereby increasing their potential for sustainable development and enriching the methods available for the study of industrial symbiosis.

Inter-group associations in Mongolian gerbils:Quantitative evidence from social network analysis

Animals often interact non-randomly with conspecifics,and association preferences can differ across life-histo­ry stages to maximize individuals’fitness.Mongolian gerbils(Meriones unguiculatus)are a social rodent that live in highly seasonal habitats and display seasonal fluctuations in population density,growth rate and the size of overlapped home ranges.Nevertheless,whether gerbils modify their social relationships at different life-his­tory stages remains unknown.Here,we used social network analysis to examine whether social associations dif­fer between the sexes and between life-history stages in a wild population of Mongolian gerbils.We quantified social attributes at both group level(assortativity)and individual level(social differentiation and degree,close­ness and betweenness centrality);these attributes reflect individuals’social preferences and their potential influ­ence on others in the network.We found that both male and female gerbils established fewer inter-group social connections during the food-hoarding season than during the breeding season,revealing constraints on sociali­ty.Similarly,during the food-hoarding season,degree centrality and social differentiation increased significant­ly whereas closeness and betweenness centrality decreased significantly.Together,these results suggest that ger­bils have relatively more partners and preferred associations and decreased influence over others in the network during the food-hoarding season.In addition,we found no significant difference in any of the social attribute be­tween males and females,but there was a significant interaction effect between sex and season on degree,close­ness and betweenness centrality.Our results demonstrate that Mongolian gerbils adjust their association strat­egies to adapt to the changes of life history.Such adjustments may balance the costs/benefits associated with survival and reproduction.

A secure routing scheme based on social network analysis in wireless mesh networks

As an extension of wireless ad hoc and sensor networks, wireless mesh networks(WMNs) are employed as an emerging key solution for wireless broadband connectivity improvement. Due to the lack of physical security guarantees, WMNs are susceptible to various kinds of attack. In this paper, we focus on node social selfish attack, which decreases network performance significantly. Since this type of attack is not obvious to detect, we propose a security routing scheme based on social network and reputation evaluation to solve this attack issue. First, we present a dynamic reputation model to evaluate a node's routing behavior, from which we can identify selfish attacks and selfish nodes. Furthermore, a social characteristic evaluation model is studied to evaluate the social relationship among nodes. Groups are built based on the similarity of node social status and we can get a secure routing based on these social groups of nodes. In addition, in our scheme, nodes are encouraged to enter into multiple groups and friend nodes are recommended to join into groups to reduce the possibility of isolated nodes. Simulation results demonstrate that our scheme is able to reflect node security status, and routings are chosen and adjusted according to security status timely and accurately so that the safety and reliability of routing are improved.

City Network Evolution Characteristics of Smart Industry: Evidence from Yangtze River Delta, China

The dual-path model of industrial evolution and spatial progression has been widely acknowledged and incorporated into the strategic planning to promote the development of urban industries and regional collaborations.However,current research on inter-enter-prise city networks mainly focuses on the single sector of flows on all enterprise branches,such as product value chains and production factors,but neglects that of particular industry department.Built upon the new economic geography and city networks theory,this paper develops a methodological framework that focuses on the analysis of city network evolution characteristics of smart industry.Particu-larly,a conceptual model of smart industry enterprise-industry-city is proposed and then applied to a case study of smart industry in the Yangtze River Delta Region,China.Using enterprise supplier-customer data,a city network of smart industry is constructed and sub-sequently analyzed with the proposed model.Findings indicate that the smart industry network in Yangtze River Delta Region exhibits a hierarchical structure and the expansion of the network presents a small-world network characteristic.The study not only makes a meth-odological contribution for revealing the industrial and spatial evolution path of the current smart industry,but also provides empirical support for the formulation of new economic development policies focused on smart industries,demonstrating the role of city clusters as carriers of regional synergistic development.

Structural Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Carbon Emission Spatial Association Network:A Case Study of Yangtze River Delta City Cluster,China

City cluster is an effective platform for encouraging regionally coordinated development.Coordinated reduction of carbon emissions within city cluster via the spatial association network between cities can help coordinate the regional carbon emission management,realize sustainable development,and assist China in achieving the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.This paper applies the improved gravity model and social network analysis(SNA)to the study of spatial correlation of carbon emissions in city clusters and analyzes the structural characteristics of the spatial correlation network of carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Delta(YRD)city cluster in China and its influencing factors.The results demonstrate that:1)the spatial association of carbon emissions in the YRD city cluster exhibits a typical and complex multi-threaded network structure.The network association number and density show an upward trend,indicating closer spatial association between cities,but their values remain generally low.Meanwhile,the network hierarchy and network efficiency show a downward trend but remain high.2)The spatial association network of carbon emissions in the YRD city cluster shows an obvious‘core-edge’distribution pattern.The network is centered around Shanghai,Suzhou and Wuxi,all of which play the role of‘bridges’,while cities such as Zhoushan,Ma'anshan,Tongling and other cities characterized by the remote location,single transportation mode or lower economic level are positioned at the edge of the network.3)Geographic proximity,varying levels of economic development,different industrial structures,degrees of urbanization,levels of technological innovation,energy intensities and environmental regulation are important influencing factors on the spatial association of within the YRD city cluster.Finally,policy implications are provided from four aspects:government macro-control and market mechanism guidance,structural characteristics of the‘core-edge’network,reconfiguration and optimization of the spatial layout of the YRD city cluster,and the application of advanced technologies.

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.

A Social Network Analysis on Organizational Innovation and Its Effects: A Case Study on the Practice of Changzhou Municipal Bureau of Urban Planning,Xinbei Branch

Using Xinbei Branch of Changzhou Municipal Bureau of Urban Planning as a case,this study carefully examines how organizations innovate in China's urban planning management.The study builds itself upon a network analysis of the data collected through a survey of all the relevant members about their working relationships after their organizational reform.It shows that,with regional competition for economic development,the local government departments in developed areas tend to actively seek opportunities for organizational innovation in order to ensure planning management effectiveness and promote planning implementation efficiency.The reform measures and their effects are carefully examined for identifying lessons and experiences in planning implementation in China.

Social network analysis of Iranian researchers in the field of violence

Purpose： The social network analysis （SNA） is a paradigm for analyzing structural patterns in social re- lations, testing knowledge sharing process and identifying bottlenecks of information flow. The purpose of this study was to determine the status of research in the field of violence in Iran using SNA. Methods： Research population included all the papers with at least one Iranian affiliation published in violence field indexed in SCIE, PubMed and Scopus databases. The co-word maps, co-authorship network and structural holes were drawn using related software. In the next step, the active au- thors and some measures of our network including degree centrality （DC）, closeness, eigenvector, betweeness, density, diameter, compactness and size of the main component were assessed. Likewise, the trend of the published articles was evaluated based on the number of documents and their cita- tions from 1972 to 2014. Results： Five hundred and seventy one records were obtained. The five main clusters and hot spots were mental health, violence, war, psychiatric disorders and suicide. The co-authorship network was complex, tangled and scale free. The top nine authors with cut point role and top ten active authors were iden- tified. The mean （standard deviation） of normalized DC, closeness, eigenvector and betweeness were 0.449 （0.805）, 0.609 （0.214）, 2.373 （Z353） and 0.338 （1.122）, respectively. The density, diameter and mean compactness of our co-authorship network were 0.0494, 3.955 and 0.125, respectively. The main component consisted of 216 nodes that formed 17% of total size of the network. Both the number of the documents and their citations has increased in the field of violence in the recent years. Conclusion： Although the number of the documents has recently increased in the field of violence, the information flow is slow and there are not many relations among the authors in the network. However, the active authors have ability to influence the flow of knowledge within the network.

Fractal Analysis of Mobile Social Networks

Fractal and self similarity of complex networks have attracted much attention in recent years. The fractal dimension is a useful method to describe the fractal property of networks. However, the fractal features of mobile social networks （MSNs） are inadequately investigated. In this work, a box-covering method based on the ratio of excluded mass to closeness centrality is presented to investigate the fractal feature of MSNs. Using this method, we find that some MSNs are fractal at different time intervals. Our simulation results indicate that the proposed method is available for analyzing the fractal property of MSNs.

Evaluation of social network conservation in historical areas of mountainous towns in Chongqing, China

Over recent decades,historical areas conservation has become an important strategy to improve urban competitiveness in the global economy.As shown in existing studies that the conservation of historical areas mainly focused on the physical environment,there is still room for the non-physical study,and researches on the social network conservation in mountainous historical areas are particularly insufficient.Therefore,this paper aims to establish an evaluation system which is helpful for the social network conservation of historical areas.The evaluation system is based on social network analysis and the information of social relationships gathered in field surveys using a specifically designed questionnaire method in four mountainous towns in Chongqing,China.And it was analyzed from three perspectives,i.e.,by the basic statistical properties,condensate subgroup,and centrality.Then five analysis indicators were conceived,including density,lambda set,k-core,degree centrality,and betweenness centrality.The analysis results demonstrate that the social networks of the four towns show different indicators,which are respectively relevant to completeness degree,edgerelatedness level,local stability,structural balance,and concentrated trend of social relationships.Results from SNA modeling indicate that neighborhood residents of historical areas who have more stable and healthier social relationships are relatively not easily be destroyed.The results also illustrate that the social networks structure is influenced by the terrain,form,and function of historical areas,and the change of historical areas is caused by"individual-family-society".Finally,the strategies guiding the social network conservation are put forward from two aspects.These findings suggest that the conservation and management of social network and aborigines in historical areas should be emphasized to increase the collective benefits and vitality.

Global Collaboration in Artificial Intelligence:Bibliometrics and Network Analysis from 1985 to 2019

Purpose:This study aims to explore the trend and status of international collaboration in the field of artificial intelligence(AI)and to understand the hot topics,core groups,and major collaboration patterns in global AI research.Design/methodology/approach:We selected 38,224 papers in the field of AI from 1985 to 2019 in the core collection database of Web of Science(WoS)and studied international collaboration from the perspectives of authors,institutions,and countries through bibliometric analysis and social network analysis.Findings:The bibliometric results show that in the field of AI,the number of published papers is increasing every year,and 84.8%of them are cooperative papers.Collaboration with more than three authors,collaboration between two countries and collaboration within institutions are the three main levels of collaboration patterns.Through social network analysis,this study found that the US,the UK,France,and Spain led global collaboration research in the field of AI at the country level,while Vietnam,Saudi Arabia,and United Arab Emirates had a high degree of international participation.Collaboration at the institution level reflects obvious regional and economic characteristics.There are the Developing Countries Institution Collaboration Group led by Iran,China,and Vietnam,as well as the Developed Countries Institution Collaboration Group led by the US,Canada,the UK.Also,the Chinese Academy of Sciences(China)plays an important,pivotal role in connecting the these institutional collaboration groups.Research limitations:First,participant contributions in international collaboration may have varied,but in our research they are viewed equally when building collaboration networks.Second,although the edge weight in the collaboration network is considered,it is only used to help reduce the network and does not reflect the strength of collaboration.Practical implications:The findings fill the current shortage of research on international collaboration in AI.They will help inform scientists and policy makers about the future of AI research.Originality/value:This work is the longest to date regarding international collaboration in the field of AI.This research explores the evolution,future trends,and major collaboration patterns of international collaboration in the field of AI over the past 35 years.It also reveals the leading countries,core groups,and characteristics of collaboration in the field of AI.

Advanced Community Identification Model for Social Networks

Community detection in social networks is a hard problem because of the size,and the need of a deep understanding of network structure and functions.While several methods with significant effort in this direction have been devised,an outstanding open problem is the unknown number of communities,it is generally believed that the role of influential nodes that are surrounded by neighbors is very important.In addition,the similarity among nodes inside the same cluster is greater than among nodes from other clusters.Lately,the global and local methods of community detection have been getting more attention.Therefore,in this study,we propose an advanced communitydetection model for social networks in order to identify network communities based on global and local information.Our proposed model initially detects the most influential nodes by using an Eigen score then performs local expansion powered by label propagation.This process is conducted with the same color till nodes reach maximum similarity.Finally,the communities are formed,and a clear community graph is displayed to the user.Our proposed model is completely parameter-free,and therefore,no prior information is required,such as the number of communities,etc.We perform simulations and experiments using well-known synthetic and real network benchmarks,and compare them with well-known state-of-the-art models.The results prove that our model is efficient in all aspects,because it quickly identifies communities in the network.Moreover,it can easily be used for friendship recommendations or in business recommendation systems.

Evaluation and optimization analysis of high-speed rail network structure in Northeast China under the background of northeast revitalization

The construction of high-speed rail(HSR)network has promoted the social-economic ties of cities,accelerated the compression of time and space,and changed the pattern of regional development.In this paper,with the adoption of the operation frequency data of HSR from 12306 website,and based on the HSR connection strength model and social network analysis model,as well as according to the HSR connection strength,HSR network density,centrality,agglomeration subgroup,and other indicators,we analyzed the characteristics of HSR network structure in Northeast China.Results show that the number of HSR cities in Northeast China is small,cities in HSR network generally exhibit weak connectivity,and the existence of HSR network marginalizes cities such as Ulanhot,Baicheng,and Songyuan,which significantly reduce the overall network connectivity of Northeast China.The overall centrality of HSR network in Northeast China is characterized by“one axis,four edges”;specifically,the one axis is located in Harbin-Dalian transportation line and the four edges are located on both sides of the main axis of Harbin-Dalian transportation line.Eight agglomeration subgroups(four double city subgroups and four multi city subgroups)have formed in Northeast China.The core status of Shenyang in HSR network is improved significantly,and“one axis and two wings”HSR network in Liaoning Province is improved significantly.With the gradual expansion of Chaoyang-Fuxin,Dandong-Benxi,and Jilin-Yanji branch networks,the“point axis”HSR network mode in Northeast China has gradually developed and matured.In the future,it is recommended to rely on eight agglomerating subgroups to encrypt HSR network structure,create secondary node central cities,and gradually build a new pattern of opening up in Northeast China.

Model for Generating Scale-Free Artificial Social Networks Using Small-World Networks

The Internet of Things(IoT)has the potential to be applied to social networks due to innovative characteristics and sophisticated solutions that challenge traditional uses.Social network analysis(SNA)is a good example that has recently gained a lot of scientific attention.It has its roots in social and economic research,as well as the evaluation of network science,such as graph theory.Scientists in this area have subverted predefined theories,offering revolutionary ones regarding interconnected networks,and they have highlighted the mystery of six degrees of separation with confirmation of the small-world phenomenon.The motivation of this study is to understand and capture the clustering properties of large networks and social networks.We present a network growth model in this paper and build a scale-free artificial social network with controllable clustering coefficients.The random walk technique is paired with a triangle generating scheme in our proposed model.As a result,the clustering controlmechanism and preferential attachment(PA)have been realized.This research builds on the present random walk model.We took numerous measurements for validation,including degree behavior and the measure of clustering decay in terms of node degree,among other things.Finally,we conclude that our suggested random walk model is more efficient and accurate than previous state-of-the-art methods,and hence it could be a viable alternative for societal evolution.

Content analysis of documents using neural networks: A study of Antarctic science research articles published in international journals

Content analysis of scientific papers emanating from Antarctic science research during the 25 years period （1980-- 2004） has been carried out using neural network based algorithm-CATPAC. A total of 10 942 research articles published in Science Citation Indexed （SCI） journals were used for the study. Normalized co-word matrix from 35 most-used significant words was used to study the semantic association between the words. Structural Equivalence blocks were constructed from these 35 most-used words. Four-block model solution was found to be optimum. The density table was dichotomized using the mean density of the table to derive the binary matrix, which was used to construct the network map. Network maps represent the thematic character of the blocks. The blocks showed preferred connection in establishing semantic relationship with the blocks, characterizing thematic composition of Antarctic science research. The analysis has provided an analytical framework for carrying out studies on the con- tent of scientific articles. The paper has shown the utility of co-word analysis in highlighting the important areas of research in Antarctic science.