D-HOCS: an algorithm for discovering the hierarchical overlapping community structure of a social network

Social networks often demonstrate a hierarchical organization, with communities embedded within other communities; moreover, nodes can be shared between different communities, i.e. communities in social networks may be overlapping. In this paper, we define a hierarchical overlapping community structure to present overlapping communities of a social network at different levels of granularity. Discovering the hierarchical overlapping community structure of a social network can provide us a deeper understanding of the complex nature of social networks. We propose an algorithm, called D-HOCS, to derive the hierarchical overlapping community structure of social networks. Firstly, D-HOCS generates a probability transition matrix by applying random walk to a social network, and then trains a Gaussian Mixture Model using the matrix. Further D-HOCS derives overlapping communities by analyzing mean vectors of the Gaussian mixture model. Varying the number of components, D-HOCS repeatedly trains the Gaussian mixture model, detecting the overlapping communities at different levels of granularity. Organizing the overlapping communities into a hierarchy, D-HOCS can finally obtain the hierarchical overlapping community structure of the social network. The experiments conducted on synthetic and real dataset demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of the proposed algorithm. We further employ D-HOCS to explore Enron e-mail corpus, and obtain several interesting insights. For example, we find out a coordinator who coordinated many sections of the Enron Corporation to complete an important task during first half of 2001. We also identify a community that corresponds to a real organization in Enron Corporation.     

Locating communities on graphs with variations in community sizes

A fundamental problem in networking and computing is community detection. Various applications like finding web communities, uncovering the structure of social networks, or even analyzing a graph’s structure to uncover Internet attacks are just some of the applications for which community detection is important. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that finds the entire community structure of a network, represented by an undirected, unweighted graph, based on local interactions between neighboring nodes and on an unsupervised centralized clustering algorithm. The novelty of the proposed approach is the fact that the algorithm is based on the use of network coordinates computed by a distributed algorithm. Experimental results and comparisons with the Lancichinetti et al. method (Phys. Rev. E 80(5 Pt 2), 056117, 2009; New J. Phys. 11(3), 033015, 2009) are presented for a variety of benchmark graphs with known community structure, derived by varying a number of graph parameters. Emphasis is given on benchmark graphs with significant variations in the size of their communities. Further experimental results are presented for two real dataset graphs, namely the Enron, and the Epinions graphs, from SNAP, the Stanford Large Network Dataset Collection. The experimental results demonstrate the high performance of our algorithm in terms of accuracy to detect communities, and its computational efficiency.     

A generative model for time evolving networks

Time evolving networks have some properties in common with complex networks, while some characteristics are specific to their time evolving nature. A number of interesting properties have been observed in time-varying complex networks such as densification power-law, shrinking diameter, scale-free degree distribution, big clustering coefficient and the emergence of community structure. Existing generative models either fail to simulate all the properties or undermine the social interactions between the existing nodes over time. In this paper, we propose a generative model called socializing graph model (SGM) for those networks that evolve over time. It is an iterative procedure consisting of two steps. In the first step, we add one new node to the network at every timestamp and connect it to an existing node using a preferential attachment rule. In the second step, we add a number of edges between the existing nodes in order to reflect the emergence of social interactions between nodes over time and mimic the evolution of real networks. We present empirical results to show that SGM generates realistic prototypes of evolving networks.

     

基于结构的社会网络分析

互联网的发展和社交网站的流行为研究社会网络提供了大规模的实验平台.主要使用DBLP和Facebook数据集构建网络,采取角色连接轮廓方法从结构上进行划分,发现它们属于外围串类型;验证了社会网络的一些统计性质,比如无标度分布、稠化定律和直径缩减等;发现社会网络中存在紧密连接且直径较小的核心结构,规模中等的社区主要呈现星型结构;基于事件框架研究了社会网络中社区结构的进化,发现社区间的融合很大程度上取决于社区间直接连接的节点所构成网络的聚类系数,而社区的分裂则与该社区的聚类系数相关.     

社会语义网分析技术研究

为满足在线社会网络语义分析的需要,提出社会语义网络分析框架。该框架由两部分构成:一是在线社会网络的语义表示,利用RDF模型和已建立的本体描述在线社会网络,赋予社会网络丰富的语义信息;二是在线社会网络的语义分析,利用SPARQL对在线社会网络语义图进行检索过滤,获取满足语义要求的数据,在分析过程中利用属性的层次结构实现分析粒度的控制,通过属性路径检索实现整体网分析。通过应用案例,说明了所提框架的有效性。     

基于权重信息挖掘社会网络中的隐含社团

社团结构是一种普遍存在于各类真实网络中的结构特性.挖掘网络的社团结构对于理解网络的功能与行为有着重要作用.然而,现有的各种社团挖掘算法仅仅基于网络拓扑结构信息,而忽视了蕴涵于真实社会网络边权信息中丰富的语义信息.目前普遍使用的基于模块性最大化的社团挖掘算法倾向于将小社团合并,这使得语义上丰富的小社团容易湮灭于基于拓扑结构信息所挖掘出的大社团中.而挖掘出这些隐含于大社团中的有着丰富语义内涵的小社团对于加深社会网络语义层面的理解有着重要作用.为此,提出一个接近线性复杂度的有权网络社团挖掘算法.通过充分利用权重信息,算法可以将社会网络划分为富含语义信息的粒度较细且相对较小的隐含社团.通过对基于DBLP作者合作网络的实证分析,证实了新算法的有效性和高效性.     

基于LDA的结构-内容联合社团发现模型

在社会网络中,根据已有的连接关系和文本信息发掘社会网络中的社团不但可以将相似的用户划分在一个社团,还可以用来预测网络中潜在的连接关系。为了提高社会网络中社团发现的性能,本文提出了一种基于LDA的结构-内容联合社团发现模型。首先,对社会网络的图论描述进行转化,使其适用于LDA模型。其次,对LDA模型描述进行扩充,使其包含了用户间交互的文本信息。最后,通过Gibbs采样方法对模型的参数进行估计。实验表明,本文提出的社团发现模型与其它相关方法相比较,社团发现得到的社团不仅用户间连接的紧密度和用户共享兴趣爱好的强度高,而且可以更好地用于社会网络中潜在连接的预测。     

Where is evolutionary computation going? A temporal analysis of the EC community

Studying an evolving complex system and drawing some conclusions from it is an integral part of nature-inspired computing; being a part of that complex system, some insight can also be gained from our knowledge of it. In this paper we study the evolution of the evolutionary computation co-authorship network using social network analysis tools, with the aim of extracting some conclusions on its mechanisms. In order to do this, we first examine the evolution of macroscopic properties of the EC co-authorship graph, and then we look at its community structure and its corresponding change along time. The EC network is shown to be in a strongly expansive phase, exhibiting distinctive growth patterns, both at the macroscopic and the mesoscopic level.

基于空间尺度粗粒化的异常检测方法

目前,大部分基于链路预测对社会网络进行异常检测的研究中,缺乏对异常节点演化影响的分析,且受社会网络规模以及复杂度的限制,检测效率普遍不高。针对上述问题,提出了一种基于空间尺度粗粒化和异常节点加权机制的异常检测方法。首先利用凝聚型社区发现算法Louvain对社会网络进行粗粒化得到简化网络,然后在简化网络的演化过程中识别有异常演化行为的节点,并将其异常演化过程量化,引入异常节点加权机制到链路预测方法中进行异常检测。在真实社会网络数据集VAST、Email-EU（dept1和dept2）以及Enron上,与基于LinkEvent的不同调整策略算法和NESO_ED方法进行对比。结果表明,该方法可以兼顾异常检测的稳定性和敏感性,能够更合理地描述网络演化过程,得到更好的异常检测效果。     

基于节点从属度的加权网络重叠社区划分算法

针对传统社区划分算法忽略现实世界网络特征导致社区划分准确率低的问题,提出了一种基于节点从属度的加权网络重叠社区划分算法。该算法提出加权网络模型,通过模型得到了能刻画出真实网络结构的加权网络;通过网络拓扑结构定义了核心社区,核心社区对社区划分的准确性有着重要作用。该算法计算节点与核心社区间的从属度,并与从属度阈值进行比较进行核心社区扩展,根据扩展模块度优化思想,通过不断地调整从属度阈值直到获得最优的社区结构,完成重叠社区划分。在人工网络数据集和真实世界网络数据集上与已有算法进行实验对比,实验结果验证了所提算法能够准确、有效地检测出重叠社区。     

The deep structure of organizational online networking – an actor‐oriented case study

While research on organizational online networking recently increased significantly, most studies adopt quantitative research designs with a focus on the consequences of social network configurations. Very limited attention is paid to comprehensive theoretical conceptions of the complex phenomenon of organizational online networking. We address this gap by adopting a theoretical framework of the deep structure of organizational online networking with a focus on their emerging meaning for the employees. We apply and assess the framework in a qualitative case study of a large‐scale implementation of a corporate social network site (SNS) in a global organization. We reveal organizational online networking as a multi‐dimensional phenomenon with multiplex relationships that are unbalanced, primarily consist of weak ties and are subject to temporal change. Further, we identify discourse drivers and information retrievers as two mutually interdependent actor roles as an explanation for uneven levels of user contributions to the SNS. Based on our analysis, we elicit abstract order principles, such as topical discourses, and identify transactive memory theory as a potent explanation of the evolving interaction structures. We finally discuss how the deep structure framework can contribute to future research on organizational networks.     

一种基于多维遗传算法的重叠社区发现方法*

社区结构的发现是社交网络分析研究的重要内容,与传统的重叠社区不同,最近的研究表明某些真实网络中在社区重叠部分要比社区内部节点间的连接更加密集,而现有的算法没有考虑此类社区结构。基于遗传算法,提出了一个新颖的方法来发现此类社区划分。为了刻画节点属于多个社区的重叠现象,首次将多维染色体和均匀块交叉算子引入到社区发现算法中。通过实验证明,提出的算法可以很好地发现社交网络中重叠和非重叠的社区结构。     

Computing in social networks with relationship algebra

Communities are the latest phenomena on the Internet. At the heart of each community lies a social network. In this paper, we show a generalized framework to understand and reason in social networks. Previously, researchers have attempted to use inference-specific type of relationships. We propose a framework to represent and reason with general case of social relationship network in a formal way. We call it relationship algebra. In the paper, we first present this algebra then show how this algebra can be used for various interesting computing on a social network weaved in the virtual communities. We show applications such as determining reviewers in a semi-professional network maintained by conference management systems, finding conflict of interest in a publication system, or to infer various trust relationships in a community of close associates, etc. We also show how future community networks can be used to determine who should be immunized in the case of a contagious disease outbreak and how these networks could be used in crime prevention, etc.     

一种基于相似性聚类的社会网络合作模式发现方法

社会网络上的模式挖掘是近年来的研究热点之一,合作模式是社会网络上个体间的合作方式,这种模式可以通过社会网络的子结构表示。已有的基于频繁模式的挖掘算法主要考虑合作关系的结构特征,并且往往需要给定支持度阈值来控制结果的规模。在本文中,我们认为社会网络中的模式不一定需要是频繁的,模式与社区也并不需要精确匹配。我们在合作模式中考虑节点的社会地位,并在加权图上给出了一种模式的定义方法,和一种基于互相似性的模式匹配衡量标准,目的在于找出网络中具有"代表性"的合作模式。我们设计了一种基于距离的聚类方法用于抽取这种模式,并在一个大规模的真实数据集上进行了验证。     

基于社会网络可视化分析的数据挖掘

把社会等复杂系统看作网络的思想由来已久.利用社会网络分析的方法,能够对各种社会关系进行精确的量化表征和分析。从而揭示其结构,对一系列当代社会的现象进行更加深入而具体的解释.结合社会网络可视化分析和数据挖掘的理论与方法,引入相关的地理信息,对包含1980-2002年间世界范围内1417例恐怖袭击事件的数据库进行数据分析,以这些恐怖袭击事件各要素节点之间关系作为基本分析单位,对恐怖组织之间的活动模式和发展特点等内在规律进行挖掘与解释,得出有意义的结果.提出的方法可以有效地推广应用于蛋白质结构分析、生物基因分析以及各类社会问题的分析过程.     

Event detection using user interaction behavior models

In information exchange networks such as email or blog networks, most processes are carried out using exchange of messages. The behavioral analysis in such networks leads to interesting insight which would be quite valuable for organizational or social analysis. In this paper, we investigate user engagingness and responsiveness as two interaction behaviors that help us understand an email network which is one of information exchange networks. Engaging actors are those who can effectively solicit responses from other actors. Responsive actors are those who are willing to respond to other actors. By modeling such behaviors, we are able to measure them and to identify high engaging or responsive actors. We systematically propose novel behavior models to quantify the engagingness and responsiveness of actors in the Enron email network. Furthermore, as one of case studies, we study an event detection problem, based on our proposed behavior models, in the Enron emails. According to our empirical study, we found out meaningful events in Enron. For details, see Sect. 5.     

融合结构与属性视图的可重叠社区发现算法

社区发现算法是发现社区内部结构和组织原则的基本工具。现有的基于模型的算法和基于优化的算法通常考虑2种信息源,即网络结构和节点属性,以获得具有更密集的网络结构和相似属性信息的社区。然而此类算法在聚类过程中无法自动确定结构与属性之间的相对重要性,以揭示子空间,因此检测到的社区质量还需提升。将子空间集成到一个重叠社区发现框架中,设计了自适应结构和属性权重策略,有效地揭示子空间,从而发现多样性的社区。在人工和真实网络上进行了广泛的实验,进一步分析验证了揭示子空间对于捕获更好的社区的重要性,说明了本文算法的合理性和有效性。     

LPX: Overlapping community detection based on X‐means and label propagation algorithm in attributed networks

Traditional community detection methods in attributed networks (eg, social network) usually disregard abundant node attribute information and only focus on structural information of a graph. Existing community detection methods in attributed networks are mostly applied in the detection of nonoverlapping communities and cannot be directly used to detect the overlapping structures. This article proposes an overlapping community detection algorithm in attributed networks. First, we employ the modified X‐means algorithm to cluster attributes to form different themes. Second, we employ the label propagation algorithm (LPA), which is based on neighborhood network conductance for priority and the rule of theme weight, to detect communities in each theme. Finally, we perform redundant processing to form the final community division. The proposed algorithm improves the X‐means algorithm to avoid the effects of outliers. Problems of LPA such as instability of division and adjacent communities being easily merged can be corrected by prioritizing the node neighborhood network conductance. As the community is detected in the attribute subspace, the algorithm can find overlapping communities. Experimental results on real‐attributed and synthetic‐attributed networks show that the performance of the proposed algorithm is excellent with multiple evaluation metrics.     

The new neighbourhood in the internet era: network communities serving local communities

The past two decades have witnessed many attempts to transform online communities in new neighbourhoods of the Internet era. In particular, one of the most interesting applications of Internet Technologies in this field have been ‘network communities’, that differ from online communities because they refer to a specific territory and, for this reason, serve as a social catalyst for the corresponding territorial community. Network communities, as virtual neighbourhoods, have the purpose of allowing a better understanding of physical ones, contributing to the creation and the proliferation of services most suited to the needs of residents. For this reason, municipalities and local governments should consider the opportunity to exploit network communities as useful tools for local community management. Following this lead, this article analyses a real case study and highlights the existence of a positive correlation between a constructive utilisation of a network community by its members, their sense of community and the degree of their involvement in local problems.