Malicious Code Modeling and Analysis in Weighted Scale-Free Networks

We study the detailed malicious code propagating process in scale-free networks with link weights that denotes traffic between two nodes. It is found that the propagating velocity reaches a peak rapidly then decays in a power-law form, which is different from the well-known result in unweighted network case. Simulation results show that the nodes with larger strength are preferential to be infected, but the hierarchical dynamics are not clearly found. The simulation results also show that larger dispersion of weight of networks leads to slower propagating, which indicates that malicious code propagates more quickly in unweighted scale-free networks than in weighted scale-free networks under the same condition. These results show that not only the topology of networks but also the link weights affect the malicious propagating process.

Generalized minimum information path routing strategy on scale-free networks

This paper presents a new routing strategy by introducing a tunable parameter into the minimum information path routing strategy we proposed previously. It is found that network transmission capacity can be considerably enhanced by adjusting the parameter with various allocations of node capability for packet delivery. Moreover, the proposed routing strategy provides a traffic load distribution which can better match the allocation of node capability than that of traditional efficient routing strategies, leading to a network with improved transmission performance. This routing strategy, without deviating from the shortest-path routing strategy in the length of paths too much, produces improved performance indexes such as critical generating rate, average length of paths and average search information.

Modelling the spread of sexually transmitted diseases on scale-free networks

In this paper a new model for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases （STDs） is presented. The dynamic behaviors of the model on a heterogenons scale-free （SF） network are considered, where the absence of a threshold on the SF network is demonstrated, and the stability of the disease-free equilibrium is obtained. Three immunization strategies, uniform immunization, proportional immunization and targeted immunization, are applied in this model. Analytical and simulated results are given to show that the proportional immunization strategy in the model is effective on SF networks.

Random walk immunization strategy on scale-free networks

A novel immunization strategy called the random walk immunization strategy on scale-free networks is proposed. Different from other known immunization strategies, this strategy works as follows： a node is randomly chosen from the network. Starting from this node, randomly walk to one of its neighbor node; if the present node is not immunized, then immunize it and continue the random walk; otherwise go back to the previous node and randomly walk again. This process is repeated until a certain fraction of nodes is immunized. By theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, we found that this strategy is very effective in comparison with the other known immunization strategies.

Convergence speed of consensus problems over undirected scale-free networks

Scale-free networks and consensus behaviour among multiple agents have both attracted much attention. To investigate the consensus speed over scale-free networks is the major topic of the present work. A novel method is developed to construct scale-free networks due to their remarkable power-law degree distributions, while preserving the diversity of network topologies. The time cost or iterations for networks to reach a certain level of consensus is discussed, considering the influence from power-law parameters. They are both demonstrated to be reversed power-law functions of the algebraic connectivity, which is viewed as a measurement on convergence speed of the consensus behaviour. The attempts of tuning power-law parameters may speed up the consensus procedure, but it could also make the network less robust over time delay at the same time. Large scale of simulations are supportive to the conclusions.

Improving consensual performance of multi-agent systems in weighted scale-free networks

This paper studies consensus problems in weighted scale-free networks of asymmetrically coupled dynamical units, where the asymmetry in a given link is deter：mined by the relative degree of the involved nodes. It shows that the asymmetry of interactions has a great effect on the consensus. Especially, when the interactions are dominant from higher- to lower-degree nodes, both the convergence speed and the robustness to communication delay are enhanced.

Integrated systemic inflammatory response syndrome epidemic model in scale-free networks

Based on the scale-free network, an integrated systemic inflammatory response syndrome model with artificial immunity, a feedback mechanism, crowd density and the moving activities of an individual can be built. The effects of these factors on the spreading process are investigated through the model. The research results show that the artificial immunity can reduce the stable infection ratio and enhance the spreading threshold of the system. The feedback mechanism can only reduce the stable infection ratio of system, but cannot affect the spreading threshold of the system. The bigger the crowd density is, the higher the infection ratio of the system is and the smaller the spreading threshold is. In addition, the simulations show that the individual movement can enhance the stable infection ratio of the system only under the condition that the spreading rate is high, however, individual movement will reduce the stable infection ratio of the system.

Finite density scaling laws of condensation phase transition in zero-range processes on scale-free networks

The dynamics of zero-range processes on complex networks is expected to be influenced by the topological structure of underlying networks.A real space complete condensation phase transition in the stationary state may occur.We study the finite density effects of the condensation transition in both the stationary and dynamical zero-range processes on scale-free networks.By means of grand canonical ensemble method,we predict analytically the scaling laws of the average occupation number with respect to the finite density for the steady state.We further explore the relaxation dynamics of the condensation phase transition.By applying the hierarchical evolution and scaling ansatz,a scaling law for the relaxation dynamics is predicted.Monte Carlo simulations are performed and the predicted density scaling laws are nicely validated.

Factors That Affect the Centrality Controllability of Scale-Free Networks

The influence of a node in a network can be characterized by its macroscopic properties such as eigenvector centrality. An issue of significant theoretical and practical interest is to modify the influence or roles of the nodes in a network, and recent advances indicate that this can be achieved by just controlling a subset of nodes： the socalled controllers. However, the relationship between the structural properties of a network and its controllability, e.g., the control of node importance, is still not well understood. Here we systematically＂ explore this relationship by constructing scale-free networks with a fixed degree sequence and tunable network characteristics. We calculate the relative size （nc＊） of the minimai controlling set required to controi the importance of each individual node in a network. It is found that while clustering has no significant impact on nc＊, changes in degree-degree correlations, heterogeneity and the average degree of networks demonstrate a discernible impact on its controllability.

Immunization for scale-free networks by random walker

Based on the random walk and the intentional random walk, we propose two types of immunization strategies which require only local connectivity information. On several typical scale-free networks, we demonstrate that these strategies can lead to the eradication of the epidemic by immunizing a small fraction of the nodes in the networks. Particularly, the immunization strategy based on the intentional random walk is extremely efficient for the assortatively mixed networks.

Epidemic spreading in scale-free networks including the effect of individual vigilance

In this paper, we study the epidemic spreading in scale-flee networks and propose a new susceptible-infected- recovered （SIR） model that includes the effect of individual vigilance. In our model, the effective spreading rate is dynamically adjusted with the time evolution at the vigilance period. Using the mean-field theory, an analytical result is derived. It shows that individual vigilance has no effect on the epidemic threshold. The numerical simulations agree well with the analytical result. Purthermore, we investigate the effect of individual vigilance on the epidemic spreading speed. It is shown that individual vigilance can slow the epidemic spreading speed effectively and delay the arrival of peak epidemic infection.

Synchronizability of Highly Clustered Scale-Free Networks

We consider the effect of clustering coefficient on the synchronizability of coupled oscillators located on scale-free networks. The analytic result for the value of clustering coefficient aiming at a highly clustered scale-free network model, the Holme-Kim model is obtained, and the relationship between network synchronizability and clustering coefficient is reported. The simulation results strongly suggest that the more clustered the network, the poorer the synchronizability.

Cascading failure in the wireless sensor scale-free networks

In the practical wireless sensor networks （WSNs）, the cascading failure caused by a failure node has serious impact on the network performance. In this paper, we deeply research the cascading failure of scale-free topology in WSNs. Firstly, a cascading failure model for scale-free topology in WSNs is studied. Through analyzing the influence of the node load on cascading failure, the critical load triggering large-scale cascading failure is obtained. Then based on the critical load, a control method for cascading failure is presented. In addition, the simulation experiments are performed to validate the effectiveness of the control method. The results show that the control method can effectively prevent cascading failure.

Opinion Spreading with Mobility on Scale-Free Networks

A continuum opinion dynamic model is presented based on two rules. The first one considers the mobilities of the individuals, the second one supposes that the individuals update their opinions independently. The results of the model indicate that the bounded confidence εc, separating consensus and incoherent states, of a scale-free network is much smaller than the one of a lattice. If the system can reach the consensus state, the sum of all individuals＇ opinion change Oc（t） quickly decreases in an exponential form, while if it reaches the incoherent state finally, Oc（t） decreases slowly and has the punctuated equilibrium characteristic.

Mobile user forecast and power-law acceleration invariance of scale-free networks

This paper studies and predicts the number growth of China＇s mobile users by using the power-law regression. We find that the number growth of the mobile users follows a power law. Motivated by the data on the evolution of the mobile users, we consider scenarios of self-organization of accelerating growth networks into scale-free structures and propose a directed network model, in which the nodes grow following a power-law acceleration. The expressions for the transient and the stationary average degree distributions are obtained by using the Poisson process. This result shows that the model generates appropriate power-law connectivity distributions. Therefore, we find a power-law acceleration invariance of the scale-free networks. The numerical simulations of the models agree with the analytical results well.

An estimation formula for the average path length of scale-free networks

A universal estimation formula for the average path length of scale free networks is given in this paper. Different from other estimation formulas, most of which use the size of network, N, as the only parameter, two parameters including N and a second parameter α are included in our formula. The parameter α is the power-law exponent, which represents the local connectivity property of a network. Because of this, the formula captures an important property that the local connectivity property at a microscopic level can determine the global connectivity of the whole network. The use of this new parameter distinguishes this approach from the other estimation formulas, and makes it a universal estimation formula, which can be applied to all types of scale-free networks. The conclusion is made that the small world feature is a derivative feature of a scale free network. If a network follows the power-law degree distribution, it must be a small world network. The power-law degree distribution property, while making the network economical, preserves the efficiency through this small world property when the network is scaled up. In other words, a real scale-free network is scaled at a relatively small cost and a relatively high efficiency, and that is the desirable result of self-organization optimization.

An adaptive strategy based on linear prediction of queue length to minimize congestion in Barabási-Albert scale-free networks

In this paper, we propose an adaptive strategy based on the linear prediction of queue length to minimize congestion in Barabaisi-Albert （BA） scale-free networks. This strategy uses local knowledge of traffic conditions and allows nodes to be able to self-coordinate their accepting probability to the incoming packets. We show that the strategy can delay remarkably the onset of congestion and systems avoiding the congestion can benefit from hierarchical organization of accepting rates of nodes. Furthermore, with the increase of prediction orders, we achieve larger values for the critical load together with a smooth transition from free-flow to congestion.

Evolution of donations on scale-free networks during a COVID-19 breakout

Having a large number of timely donations during the early stages of a COVID-19 breakout would normally be considered rare. Donation is a special public goods game with zero yield for donors, and it has the characteristics of the prisoners’ dilemma. This paper discusses why timely donations in the early stages of COVID-19 occurred. Based on the idea that donation is a strategy adopted by players during interconnection on account of their understanding of the environment, donation-related populations are placed on social networks and the inter-correlation structures in the population are described by scale-free networks. Players in donation-related populations are of four types: donors, illegal beneficiaries,legal beneficiaries, and inactive people. We model the evolutionary game of donation on a scale-free network. Donors,illegal beneficiaries and inactive people learn and update strategies under the Fermi update rule, whereas the conversion between legal beneficiaries and the other three types is determined by the environment surrounding the players. We study the evolution of cooperative action when the agglomeration coefficient, the parameters of the utility function, the noise intensity, the utility coefficient, the donation coefficient and the initial states of the population on the scale-free network change. For population sizes of 50, 100, 150, and 200, we give the utility functions and the agglomeration coefficients for promoting cooperation and study the corresponding steady states and structural characteristics of the population. We identify the best ranges of the noise intensity K, the donation coefficient α and the utility coefficient β for promoting cooperation at different population sizes. Furthermore, with the increase of the population size, the donor traps are found.At the same time, it is discovered that the initial states of the population have a great impact on the steady states;thus the upper and lower triangle phenomena are proposed. We also find that the population size itself is also an important factor for promoting donation, pointing out the direction of efforts to further promote donation and achieve better social homeostasis under the donation model.

Attack Robustness of Scale-Free Networks Based on Grey Information

We introduce an attack robustness model of scale-free networks based on grey information,which means that one can obtain the information of al1 nodes,but the attack information may be imprecise.The known random failure and the intentional attack are two extreme cases of our investigation.Using the generating function method,we derive the analytical value of the critical removal fraction of nodes for the disintegration of networks,which agree with the simulation results well.We also investigate the effect of grey information on the attack robustness of scale-free networks and find that decreasing the precision of attack information can remarkably enhance the attack robustness of scale-free networks.

Study on the phase transition of the fractal scale-free networks

Based on the Ising spin, the phase transition on fractal scale-free networks with tree-like skeletons is studied, where the loops are generated by local links. The degree distribution of the tree-like skeleton satisfies the power-law form P（k）～ k^-δ.It is found that when δ≥3, the renormalized scale-free network will have the same degree distribution as the original network. For a special case of δ = 4.5, a ferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition is found and the critical temperature is determined by the box-covering renormalization method. By keeping the structure of the fractal scale-free network constant, the numerical relationship between the critical temperature and the network size is found, which is the form of power law.