On the Structure of Complex Networks

Large-scale complex networks in natural, social, and technological systems exhibit an abundance of rich information, and extracting meaningful structural features from network data is one of the most challenging tasks in network theory. Nonetheless, understanding these networks is essential to explaining phenomena in transportation, epidemiology, sociology, economics, and other fields. This book presents three novel analyses of large-scale empirical networks. First, a comparison of two world-wide transportation systems reveals many statistical similarities despite extremely different operational and geographic constraints. Second, we develop a new method for determining geographic borders based on human mobility. Finally, we demonstrate how measuring networks in terms of shortest-path trees can identify a robust network skeleton, and its relevance in predicting dynamical processes. Hardcover available at http://www.lulu.com/content/hardcover-book/on-the-structure-of-complex-networks/13985882