Network 'small-world-ness': a quantitative method for determining canonical network equivalence.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many technological, biological, social, and information networks fall into the broad class of 'small-world' networks: they have tightly interconnected clusters of nodes, and a shortest mean path length that is similar to a matched random graph (same number of nodes and edges). This semi-quantitative definition leads to a categorical distinction ('small/not-small') rather than a quantitative, continuous grading of networks, and can lead to uncertainty about a network's small-world status. Moreover, systems described by small-world networks are often studied using an equivalent canonical network model--the Watts-Strogatz (WS) model. However, the process of establishing an equivalent WS model is imprecise and there is a pressing need to discover ways in which this equivalen

SUBMITTER: Humphries MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2323569 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature