Identification of Influential Users in Online Social Network: A Brief Overview

Information networks where users join a network, publish their own content, and create links to other users are called Online Social Networks (OSNs). Nowadays, OSNs have become one of the major platforms to promote both new and viral applications as well as disseminate information. Social network analysis is the study of these information networks that leads to uncovering patterns of interaction among the entities. In this regard, finding influential users in OSNs is very important as they play a key role in the success above phenomena. Various approaches exist to detect influential users in OSNs, starting from simply counting the immediate neighbors to more complex machine-learning and message-passing techniques. In this paper, we review the recent existing research works that focused on identifying influential users in OSNs.

Joint User Association and Resource Allocation for Self-Backhaul Ultra-Dense Networks

In order to meet the exponentially increasing demand on mobile data traffic, self-backhaul ultra-dense networks(UDNs) combined with millimeter wave(mm Wave) communications are expected to provide high spatial multiplexing gain and wide bandwidths for multi-gigabit peak data rates. In selfbackhaul UDNs, how to make the radio access rates of small cells match their backhaul rates by user association and how to dynamically allocate bandwidth for the access links and backhaul links to balance two-hop link resources are two key problems on improving the overall throughputs. Based on this, a joint scheme of user association and resource allocation is proposed in self-backhaul ultra-dense networks. Because of the combinatorial and nonconvex features of the original optimization problem, it has been divided into two subproblems. Firstly, to make the radio access rates of small base stations match their backhaul rates and maximize sum access rates per Hz of all small cells, a proportional constraint is introduced, and immune optimization algorithm(IOA) is adopted to optimize the association indicator variables and the boresight angles of between users and base stations. Then, the optimal backhaul and access bandwidths are calculated by differentiating the general expression of overall throughput. Simulation results indicatethat the proposed scheme increases the overall throughputs significantly compared to the traditional minimum-distance based association scheme.

Resource Allocation and User Association for HTTP Adaptive Streaming in Heterogeneous Cellular Networks with Small Cells

Video streaming,especially hypertext transfer protocol based(HTTP) adaptive streaming(HAS) of video,has been expected to be a dominant application over mobile networks in the near future,which brings huge challenge for the mobile networks.Although some works have been done for video streaming delivery in heterogeneous cellular networks,most of them focus on the video streaming scheduling or the caching strategy design.The problem of joint user association and rate allocation to maximize the system utility while satisfying the requirement of the quality of experience of users is largely ignored.In this paper,the problem of joint user association and rate allocation for HTTP adaptive streaming in heterogeneous cellular networks is studied,we model the optimization problem as a mixed integer programming problem.And to reduce the computational complexity,an optimal rate allocation using the Lagrangian dual method under the assumption of knowing user association for BSs is first solved.Then we use the many-to-one matching model to analyze the user association problem,and the joint user association and rate allocation based on the distributed greedy matching algorithm is proposed.Finally,extensive simulation results are illustrated to demonstrate the performance of the proposed scheme.

Context-Oriented Multi-RAT User Association and Resource Allocation with Triple Decision in 5G Heterogeneous Networks

In the upcoming 5 G heterogeneous networks, leveraging multiple radio access technologies(RATs) shows to be a crucial issue in achieving RAT multiplexing gain to meet the explosive traffic demand. For always best connection(ABC), users tend to activate parallel transmission across all available RATs. However from a system-wide perspective, this might not be optimal given the context of network load, interference and diverse service requirements. To intelligently determine how to use these multi-RAT access resources concurrently, this paper proposes a joint multi-RAT user association and resource allocation strategy with triple decision and integrated context awareness of users and networks. A dynamic game based ant colony algorithm(GACA) is designed to simultaneously maximize the system utility and the fairness of resource allocation. Simulation results show that it's more reasonable to make multi-RAT association decision from a system-wide viewpoint than from an individual one. Compared to max-SNR based and ABC based strategies, the proposed method alleviates network congestion and optimizes resource allocation. It obtains 39%~70% performance improvement.

The Research on E-mail Users' Behavior of Participating in Subjects Based on Social Network Analysis

The e-mail network is a type of social network. This study analyzes user behavior in e-mail subject participation in organizations by using social network analysis. First, the Enron dataset and the position-related information of an employee are introduced, and methods for deletion of false data are presented. Next, the three-layer model(User, Subject, Keyword) is proposed for analysis of user behavior. Then, the proposed keyword selection algorithm based on a greedy approach, and the influence and propagation of an e-mail subject are defined. Finally, the e-mail user behavior is analyzed for the Enron organization. This study has considerable significance in subject recommendation and character recognition.

Container Networking Performance Analysis for Large-Scale User Behavior Simulation

Accurately simulating large-scale user behavior is important to improve the similarity between the cyber range and the real network environment. The Linux Container provides a method to simulate the behavior of large-scale users under the constraints of limited physical resources. In a container-based virtualization environment, container networking is an important component. To evaluate the impact of different networking methods between the containers on the simulation performance, the typical container networking methods such as none, bridge, macvlan were analyzed, and the performance of different networking methods was evaluated according to the throughput and latency metrics. The experiments show that under the same physical resource constraints, the macvlan networking method has the best network performance, while the bridge method has the worst performance. This result provides a reference for selecting the appropriate networking method in the user behavior simulation process.

Uplink Performance Analysis in Multi-Tier Heterogeneous Cellular Networks with Power Control and Biased User Association

A K-tier uplink heterogeneous cellular network is modelled and analysed by accounting for both truncated channel inversion power control and biased user association. Each user has a maximum transmit power constraint and transmits data when it has sufficient transmit power to perform channel inversion. With biased user association, each user is associated with a base station(BS) that provides the maximum received power weighted by a bias factor, but not their nearest BS. Stochastic geometry is used to evaluate the performances of the proposed system model in terms of the outage probability and ergodic rate for each tier as functions of the biased and power control parameters. Simulations validate our analytical derivations. Numerical results show that there exists a trade-off introduced by the power cut-off threshold and the maximum user transmit power constraint. When the maximum user transmit power becomes a binding constraint, the overall performance is independent of BS densities. In addition, we have shown that it is beneficial for the outage and rate performances by optimizing different network parameters such as the power cut-off threshold as well as the biased factors.

Energy-Efficient User Association in Heterogeneous Networks with M2M/H2H Coexistence under QoS Guarantees

In this paper, we propose an energy efficient user association scheme for uplink heterogeneous networks with machine-to-machine(M2M) and human-to-human(H2H) coexistence. A group based random access protocol is designed for massive number of machine-typecommunications(MTC) user equipments'(UEs) transmissions. A user association problem for UEs' energy efficiency maximization is formulated considering the HTC UEs' quality of service(QoS) guarantees and load balance among multiple BSs, simultaneously. A distributed iterative algorithm is developed to solve the optimization problem. In addition, the convergence of the proposed algorithm is proved. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme outperforms other schemes in terms of energy efficiency and QoS guarantees.

User growth and penetration modeling for converged heterogeneous network

To evaluate the trail potential of converged heterogeneous network （CHN） market, the logistic method for adoption modeling of CHN is used. User growth ＆ penetration have been taken as two variants to find saturation condition in market. Model is continuous in time but modifications are done for discrete recurrence equation, commonly known as logistic map. Dynamic and static phases are taken into consideration while penetration decay is not covered in this model.

Complex field network-coded cooperation based on multi-user detection in wireless networks

Cooperative communication can achieve spatial diversity gains,and consequently combats signal fading due to multipath propagation in wireless networks powerfully.A novel complex field network-coded cooperation（CFNCC） scheme based on multi-user detection for the multiple unicast transmission is proposed.Theoretic analysis and simulation results demonstrate that,compared with the conventional cooperation（CC） scheme and network-coded cooperation（NCC） scheme,CFNCC would obtain higher network throughput and consumes less time slots.Moreover,a further investigation is made for the symbol error probability（SEP） performance of CFNCC scheme,and SEPs of CFNCC scheme are compared with those of NCC scheme in various scenarios for different signal to noise ratio（SNR） values.

User-Oriented Hybrid Opportunistic Network Design

To improve the end-to-end Successful Delivery Probability(SDP) of mobile nodes in opportunistic network,hybrid Opportunistic Network(OppNet) architecture using Fix Infrastructure Nodes(FINs) is proposed.As enhanced OppNet serving for special users,the network planning and design should take user's mobility behavior into account.We adopt collected users' mobility records,analyze users' stay pattern,and establish Message Exchange Points(MEPs) where FINs should be installed.Our solution includes MEPs detection algorithm,Maximum end-to-end Success Delivery Probability(MSDP) detection algorithm,and simulated annealing algorithm.After data preprocessing,MEPs detection algorithm detects feasible locations from users' trajectory records where not more than one user visit frequently.End to end SDPs of these feasible MEPs are evaluated using MSDP detection algorithm.To reduce the computation complexity,a simulated annealing algorithm to select optimal FIN locations in a large number of feasible MEPs is given.The evaluation experiments based on reallife trajectory dataset verify our proposal can achieve better E2 E SDP gain than "most visitors" strategy and "max residence probability" strategy.

Delay-Based User Association in Heterogeneous Networks with Backhaul

The Internet of things(IoT) as an important application of future communication networks puts a high premium on delay issues. Thus when Io T applications meet heterogeneous networks(HetNets) where macro cells are overlaid with small cells, some traditional problems need rethinking. In this paper, we investigate the delay-addressed association problem in two-tier Het Nets considering different backhaul technologies. Specifically, millimeter wave and fiber links are used to provide high-capacity backhaul for small cells. We first formulate the user association problem to minimize the total delay which depends on the probability of successful transmission, the number of user terminals(UTs), and the number of base stations(BSs). And then two algorithms for active mode and mixed mode are proposed to minimize the network delay. Simulation results show that algorithms based on mutual selection between UTs and BSs have better performance than those based on distance. And algorithms for mixed modes have less delay than those for active mode when the number of BSs is large enough, compared to the number of UTs.

Factors influencing knowledge contribution:An empirical investigation of social networking website users

Purpose: In the Web 2.0 era,leveraging the collective power of user knowledge contributions has become an important part of the study of collective intelligence. This research aims to investigate the factors which influence knowledge contribution behavior of social networking sites(SNS) users.Design/methodology/approach: The data were obtained from an online survey of 251 social networking sites users. Structural equation modeling analysis was used to validate the proposed model.Findings: Our survey shows that the individuals' motivation for knowledge contribution,their capability of contributing knowledge,interpersonal trust and their own habits positively influence their knowledge contribution behavior,but reward does not significantly influence knowledge contribution in the online virtual community.Research limitations: Respondents of our online survey are mainly undergraduate and graduate students. A limited sample group cannot represent all of the population. A larger survey involving more SNS users may be useful.Practical implications: The results have provided some theoretical basis for promoting knowledge contribution and user viscosity.Originality/value: Few studies have investigated the impact of social influence and user habits on knowledge contribution behavior of SNS users. This study can make a theoretical contribution by examining how the social influence processes and habits affect one's knowledge contribution behavior using online communities.

Learning User Intention in Networked Mobile Robot Control

Teleoperated networked robot often has unpredictable behaviors due to uncertain time delay from data transmission over Internet. The robot cannot accomplish the desired actions of the remote operator in time, which severely impairs reliability and efficiency of the robot system. This paper investigated a novel approach, learning user intention, to compensate the uncertain time delay with the autonomy of a mobile robot. The user intention to control and operate the robot was modeled and incrementally inferred based on Bayesian techniques so that the desired actions could be recognized and completed by the robot autonomously. Thus the networked robot is able to fulfill the task assigned without frequent interaction with the user, which decreases data transmission and improves the efficiency of the whole system. Experimental results show the validity and feasibility of the proposed method.

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.

ROLS-AWS algorithm used in RBF neural network for multi-user detection

To improve the computational speed,the ROLS-AWS algorithm was employed in the RBF based MUD receiver.The radial basis function was introduced into the multi-user detection(MUD)firstly.Then a three-layer neural network demodulation spread-spectrum signal model in the synchronous Gauss channel was given and the multi-user detection receiver was analyzed intensively.Simulations by computer illustrate that the proposed RBF based MUD receiver employing the ROLS-AWS algorithm is better than conventional detectors and common BP neural network based MUD receivers on suppressing multiple access interference and near-far resistance.

User Informatics Optimized Search and Retrieval-Congestion Avoidance Scheme for 4G Networks

The objective of 4G network is to provide best services to the users which in turn made the performance of existing network more critical. Further, the large traffic generated in such networks creates congestion resulting in overloading of the system. Frequent delays, loss of packets, and in addition the number of retransmission/paging also increases the computational cost of the system. This paper proposes a novel way to reduce overloading and retrieval mechanism for VLR through optimized search, based on the information of users mobility pattern (User profiles based (UPB)) to track the user. This not only improves the overall performance of the system, especially in the events when the visitor location register (VLR) is overloaded due to heavy traffic and congestion of the network. It was also established through simulation studies that the proposed UPB scheme optimizes the search and reduces the average waiting time in a queue. In addition, the provision of VLRW (waiting visitor location register) avoids the overloading of main VLR and provides a recovery/retrieval mechanism for VLR failure.

A Distributed User Association and Resource Allocation Method in Cache-Enabled Small Cell Networks

Cache-enabled small cell networks have been regarded as a promising approach for network operators to cope with the explosive data traffic growth in future 5 G networks. However, the user association and resource allocation mechanism has not been thoroughly studied under given content placement situation. In this paper, we formulate the joint optimization problem of user association and resource allocation as a mixed integer nonlinear programming(MINLP) problem aiming at deriving a balance between the total utility of data rates and the total data rates retrieved from caches. To solve this problem, we propose a distributed relaxing-rounding method. Simulation results demonstrate that the distributed relaxing-rounding method outperforms traditional max-SINR method and range-expansion method in terms of both total utility of data rates and total data rates retrieved from caches in practical scenarios. In addition, effects of storage and backhaul capacities on the performance are also studied.