Patent Application: US-58503904-A

Abstract:
a method is disclosed for determining the ability of a network to spread information or physical traffic . said network includes a number of network nodes interconnected by links . the method comprises mapping the topology of a network , computing a value for link strength between the nodes , computing an eigenvector centrality index for all nodes , based on said link strength values identifying nodes which are local maxima of the eigenvector centrality index as centre nodes , grouping the nodes into regions surrounding each identified centre node , assigning a role to each node from its position in a region , as centre nodes , region member nodes , border nodes , bridge nodes , dangler nodes , and measuring the susceptibility of the network to spreading , based on the number of regions , their size , and how they are connected .

Description:
useful and interesting applications of ideas of network analysis are disclosed by the present invention . the only prerequisite is that the links of the networks are undirected . by undirected links we mean links that do not point in a specific direction . on the world wide web a web - page may point to another , but this page does not necessarily have to point back . in this instance the pages would be connected by a directed link . if both pages were hyper - linked to each other , one link going in each direction , these links could be collapsed into one , undirected link . the present invention treats all networks as consisting of undirected links . the idea pursued by the present application is that ‘ well - connectedness ’ may be viewed as a height function over the discrete space ( the graph ). if the height function of the present invention is smooth enough , ideas appropriate for smooth surfaces over a continuous space can be employed . that is , the present invention will use a topographical picture to define regions in a network . regions will correspond to ‘ mountains ’, with the centre of each region being the corresponding mountaintop . boundaries between regions will then be defined as those points failing to be uniquely associated with one mountain region . the defined roles are : ‘ leader ’ of a community ( region ); member of a community ; and two types of roles for nodes in the ‘ border set ’, i . e ., nodes not belonging to any community . the approach taken is roughly dual to that of girvan and newman [ 5 ]. the present invention begins , not with the ‘ edges ’, but with the ‘ centres ’ of the communities . from this starting point , one works ‘ outwards ’ to find the members , and finally the border nodes . the presented set of roles is complete and consistent , in the sense that the definitions allow a unique and unambiguous association of a single role to each node in the graph . people that communicate with each other form a social network , where the links are based on their communication . these links may be distinguished according to the type of medium that is being used , be it telephony , face - to - face communications , or mail . thus , the social network can be described as multiplex : it is a network where the nodes are related to each other by different types of links . although the social relationships that link different persons together may exist independent of the type of medium used , the type of medium plays an important role in defining the links , as each medium is a distinct channel for information flow . different communications media are in this sense analogous to languages . for example , a person that wants to reach many nodes in the network has to be able to communicate over multiple types of media — he has to speak the other nodes &# 39 ; preferred ‘ language ’. this idea of links differentiated by media is valid for most kinds of networks : disease may for example spread through a number of different carriers of infections , and the links in transportation networks may consist of many different means for transportation , for example cars , planes , or trains . the strength of the links in this type of multiplex network can be determined in different ways . here we mention four : 1 ) one can simply state whether a link ( of any type ) exists or not . numerically , one assigns 0 to ‘ no link ’ and 1 to ‘ some link ’. 2 ) one can count the number of different media that connect any pair of nodes , that is , the number of different media that has any flow of substances or information between any two nodes in the network . 3 ) one can measure the total flow between any two nodes in the network . to do this one must convert the data that is available to a common measure . this measure thus gives the net amount of flow ( for example minutes or words for communications media ) between any two nodes in the network . 4 ) a fourth alternative is to determine the strength of the links through a mixture of 2 ) and 3 ). that is , count each medium [ as in 2 )], but weighted [ as in 3 )] by the fraction of flow for that medium , that a given pair uses . the traditional way of determining link strengths is indicated as number 1 ). method 3 ) is also known . methods 2 ) and 4 are new and innovative methods for determination of link strengths . the eigenvector centrality ( evc ) index is mathematically defined as the principal eigenvector of a matrix . the simplest and most common method for finding the principal eigenvector of a matrix is the ‘ power method ’ [ 14 ]. this method involves repeated multiplication on a vector of weights by the matrix . multiplication on the weight vector by the matrix is equivalent to what can be called ‘ weight propagation ’: it redistributes a set of weights according to a rule . repeated redistribution of the weights ( with overall normalization of the total weight ) yields a steady distribution , which is the dominant or principal eigenvector . these are the scores , which are used as centrality index by the present invention . for clarity , we illustrate the application of the power method , in fig7 . here , using the equations explained previously , the process starts and a start vector w 0 is chosen ( s 401 ). at each iteration , a new weight w new is calculated ( s 403 ) by redistributing the weights according to the action of the matrix operator . this new weight is then normalized ( s 405 ). a convergence test is then performed ( s 407 ). if the weight has converged , the process ends . otherwise , a new weight is calculated and process repeats until the weight converges . for the analysis of multiplex social networks , the evc measure has been generalized to incorporate three other measures of link strength ( 2 - 4 ), as mentioned above . the modification of the general evc idea , as applied in the new methods 2 ) and 4 ), is as follows : a node is central if it has many neighbors with high centrality — and uses many different types of media . in the following it is described how to implement this general idea for each of the four approaches to link strength discussed above : 1 ) the traditional approach , in which the adjacency matrix a is composed only of 0 &# 39 ; s and 1 &# 39 ; s , could be used with multiplex networks ; but it is totally insensitive to the number of media used by each pair of nodes . 2 ) here we simply replace the matrix a , whose entries are all either 0 or 1 , with the matrix a color , defined as follows : the entry ( a color ) ij , is equal to the number of ‘ colours ’ ( distinct media ) connecting nodes i and j . 3 ) here the 1 &# 39 ; s in the traditional a matrix are replaced by a positive real number , giving the total volume of flow ( summed over all media , and measured in a common unit of measure ) over some given time interval . that is : ( a _ _ volume ) ij = ∑ c ⁢ v c , ij , where c is an index ranging over ‘ colours ’ ( media ), and v c , ij is the total communications volume in medium c between nodes i and j . 4 ) finally the present invention proposes a mixture of approaches 2 ) and 3 ), so as to give weight both to flow volume and to the existence of multiple media . hence , for each medium c and node pair ij , we give a ‘ score ’ which is the fraction ( contributed by the pair ij ) of the total communication that uses medium c in the network . let v t , c denote the total volume ( over the entire network ) of communication using medium c . then our ‘ mixed ’ measured of link strength may be written as ( a _ _ mixed ) ij = ∑ c ⁢ ( v c , ij / v t , c ) . the method according to the present invention converts flow data into an adjacency matrix , using one of the four methods described above to give each matrix entry a link strength measure . it then calculates the principal eigenvector of the resulting modified adjacency matrix . this allows us to assign an index ( a positive number ) to all the nodes in the network , giving their centrality according to one of our four measures . those nodes with the highest centrality values are viewed as the most central nodes in the network . this allows the method to produce a list of the network hubs and their immediate neighborhoods . the centrality index also makes it possible to produce a topographical map of the network structure , that is , a graphical visualization of the network that shows the most central nodes as local ‘ peaks ’. the final goal of the present invention is to assign a natural and unique role to each node in the network , based solely on the topology of the graph . as noted above , kleinberg found two such roles for directed graphs : hubs and authorities . hubs are naturally good at pointing to good authorities ; and authorities are naturally good at being pointed to by good hubs . one can see already from these simple grammatical statements that the distinction between hubs and authorities vanishes when the arcs of the graph become undirected ( so that “ pointing to ”=“ being pointed at ”). the mathematics gives the same result : for the undirected case , the adjacency matrix is symmetric , a = a t , and so the matrices defining hubs and authorities become the same . in short , for undirected graphs , the two types of roles collapse to one . that one role ( more precisely , an index quantifying the degree to which the node plays the role ) is eigenvector centrality . the hub operator aa t and the authority operator a t a simply becomes a 2 , whose principal eigenvector is the same as that for a . hence it is found that two of the roles identified in kleinberg &# 39 ; s work with directed graphs becomes a single ( type of ) role for an undirected graph . this role type is called well - connectedness in the following sections , or eigenvector centrality . it is further searched for distinctions among the nodes of an undirected graph - in other words , multiple distinct roles , to which any given node may be assigned . these roles will be defined in the next section . eigenvector centrality ( evc ) will be the height function , and hence the starting point . the difference between ‘ role type ’ and ‘ role ’ has to be clarified . realvalued indices or ‘ scores ’ can be associated with each node : hub and authority scores for the directed case , and evc score for the undirected case . these are role types ; in fact it is fair to say that all three scores represent some type of centrality . all nodes have some degree of centrality ; and ‘ being central ’ is certainly a type of role . by role however in this document it is meant a binary ( yes / no ) distinction applied to each node , so that each node receives a single yes and hence is assigned a unique and unambiguous role . centrality ( a role type ) will give a smooth height function over the graph , allowing the use of topographic criteria to assign a ( yes or no ) role to each node . for simplicity and readability the picture of mountains , valleys , saddles etc for the height function is kept . each mountain may be defined by its peak . the peak is a local maximum of the height function . the first role is then the mountain peak . centre : any node which is a local maximum of the eigenvector centrality is a centre . each mountain top defines a mountain . hence the number of regions in the graph is equal to the number of centres . ( henceforth , except when roles are defined , the capital letters is dropped ; the meaning should be clear from context .) regions are usually composed of more than one node ; hence the role for a node cannot be a region , but rather a region member . region member : each node that may be uniquely associated with a single centre , according to an unambiguous rule , is a member of that centre &# 39 ; s region , and hence a region member . it remains to specify the “ unambiguous rule ”. according to the present invention , two possible choices are given for the “ unambiguous rule ”. rule 1 ( distance ). a node is associated with centre c if it is closer ( in number of shortest path hops ) to c than to any other centre c 0 . rule 2 ( steepest ascent ). for each node i , a steepest - ascent path starting at i will terminate at one ( or more ) centres . if it terminates at a single centre , then node i is associated with that centre . these rules are simply the discrete - domain version of the process of associating a part of the domain ( base space ) with each mountain top - hence defining each mountain . one must be careful here to break the definition of region into two parts : the definition itself , which refers to a rule but does not specify it ; and the rule . this is done because more than one rule is possible for the discrete case ; and the region definition in a way that captures the “ mountain ” idea is stated , but leaves the rule unspecified . both rules stated above satisfy the intuitively reasonable criterion that a centre &# 39 ; s near neighbours should ( in general ) belong to its region . ( it is , after all , the number and connectedness of a centre &# 39 ; s neighbours that gives that centre its high evc .) both rules are also easy to implement in a simple iterative fashion - starting with the centres , and working outwards from them , “ coloring ” nodes according to the regions ( centres ) they belong to . the steepestascent rule is however the rule which is the most faithful to the topographic picture . on a continuous topographic surface there are points which lie between mountains , and belong to no unique mountain . it may happen that analogous points exist for the discrete case as well . nodes which cannot be associated with any one mountain are assigned to the border set . border nodes : any node for which the unambiguous rule for region membership gives more than one answer is a border node . intuitively , one thinks of border nodes as “ connecting regions ”. and yet , a bit more thought reveals that not all border nodes are equal in this regard . some border nodes do indeed play an important role in connecting two or more regions : they lie on paths which connect the respective centres ( hence regions ). see left panel of fig1 . other nodes may be removed , without any loss in the degree of connection between the regions . see right panel of fig1 . hence it is natural to define two distinct roles to the set of border nodes . bridge node : a border node which lies on at least one nonself - retracing path connecting two centres is a bridge node . danglers of course may inject new information into the network ; but they do not play a significant role in the transport of information between regions . finally , it is desirable to single out a class of links which play an important role in connecting regions . the reason for doing so here is that the border set for the steepest - ascent rule is in general very small or zero . in this case it is still useful to highlight those network elements which connect the regions . hence it is defined : bridge links : any link whose endpoints lie in two distinct regions is a bridge link . bridge links will occur for either region rule above . one can imagine rules for defining regions which give ‘ fat ’ borders . for example , one could associate nodes with centres according to : rule 1 ′ ( distance with cut - off ). a node is associated with centre c if it is closer ( in number of hops ) to c than to any other centre c 0 , and if its distance from cis not greater than h hops . ‘ fat ’ borders arise for such a rule since there could be many nodes which are farther than h hops from any centre . in general , ‘ fat ’ boundaries arise if one chooses a rule designed to avoid the ‘ growing together ’ of regions from their respective centres . distance to which growth is allowed could then be measured in hops ( as in rule 1 ′), or in decrements in evc . boundaries according to rule 1 are ‘ thin ’: essentially one node wide . boundaries according to rule 2 are even thinner : in general , they are 0 nodes wide , since it is rare that a node will have two or more steepest - ascent paths , leading to different local maxima . the mathematical problems as solved by the present invention are solved focusing on ‘ smooth ’ functions over a discrete space . suppose the domain space is continuous . then harmonic functions are the smoothest functions available . these functions are solutions to laplace &# 39 ; s equation , for a given space , one obtains different solutions to ( 1 ) from differing boundary conditions on φ . one will immediately identify some problems with the continuum picture . one problem is that there are no maxima , or minima , away from the boundary . hence the topographic picture according to the present invention cannot work with such smooth functions : every mountaintop will lie on the boundary . furthermore , the present invention is disclosing a natural way of defining regions . here “ natural ” means , guided as much as possible by the topology of the graph . hence it is undesirable to have to assign values for the function φ at the boundary — it will be preferred that the topology solve this problem . one can of course solve this last problem by setting φ = constant , for example , zero , at the boundary . that is , the boundary is just given some nominal reference value . this is “ natural ” enough ; however one then get that φ = constant over the entire space , due to the averaging property of laplace &# 39 ; s equation . where l = k − a is the laplacian matrix , k = diag ( k 1 , k 2 . . . ) is a diagonal matrix whose ith entry is the node degree k i , where k i is the number of connected neighbours of node i , and a is the adjacency matrix , with a ij = 1 if there is a link from i to j , and 0 otherwise . it is easy to see that the averaging property holds here also : solutions to ( 2 ) obey ϕ i = 1 k i ⁢ ∑ j = nn ⁡ ( i ) ⁢ ϕ j ( 3 ) here “ nn ” means “ near neighbour ”. the discrete laplace equation thus offers ‘ most smooth ’ functions for the discrete case ; but it has all the problems seen for continuous harmonic functions , plus one more . the additional problem stems from the crucial fact that the specification of the boundary of a discrete space is not unique — in fact , there is no natural way to define such a boundary . one can of course take the , perhaps least arbitrary , assumption that none of the points are boundary points — all have to have their height determined by the graph structure — but then one gets back the constant φ i = constant . following the discussion from the expression ( 3 ). a small change in the picture as given by ( 3 ) solves all of its problems at once . the small change is as follows : it is asked for a height function which obeys , instead of the averaging property ( 3 ), the following : ϕ i = 1 λ ⁢ ∑ j = nn ⁡ ( i ) ⁢ ϕ j ( 4 ) that is , instead of taking the strict average over all neighbours , one divides the neighbour sum by a constant λ , which is the same for all nodes . this equation can be written as where a is again the adjacency matrix . now we have an eigenvalue equation , and the height function φ is an eigenvector of the adjacency matrix . the present invention wants in fact the eigenvector which is the stable iterative solution of ( 4 ), because height is supposed to signify ‘ well - connectedness ’. that is , ( 4 ) encodes the idea that node i &# 39 ; s well - connectedness is determined , to within a scale constant λ , by that of all of i &# 39 ; s neighbours . iterating this requirement , from any starting point , will give the principal eigenvector of the adjacency matrix . this eigenvector gives the stable , self consistent solution of ( 4 ); it also has the property that it is positive semi definite , since a is . with this one modification , the problems as seen above with laplace &# 39 ; s equation ( discrete or otherwise ) are no longer present . evc can have local maxima away from the boundary . in fact , since it measures well - connectedness , local maxima of evc tend to lie well away from any nodes that one might be tempted to call ‘ boundary nodes ’. furthermore , there is no need to define a boundary for the discrete case : all nodes may have evc values determined by equation ( 4 ), with no values input as ‘ boundary conditions ’. 1 ) the two new modified forms for the adjacency matrix , giving two new measures of centrality that allow network centers to be picked out . 3 ) the definitions and methods for assigning discrete network roles to each node in the network . 4 ) applying the new measures of centrality , regions , and roles to a wide variety of applications . in the following is given examples of embodiment of the present invention as well as comparisons between the two rules for defining regions . fig4 , and 6 show the results of the mana research project as presented in [ 4 ]. the graphs represent a small social network , a working group of 11 persons . with the use of the presented method &# 39 ; s different measures for link strength , evc - based centrality indices were made for the network . the topographical visualizations show the centrality of the nodes as differences in height . in fig4 , link strength is measured based on the number of different media used by each node ( method 2 ). fig5 shows the graph when the link strength is based on the net amount of flow between the nodes ( method 3 ). finally , fig6 shows the graph that is based on a mixture of the above methods for determining link strength , that is , both the number of media used and the net amount of flow ( method 4 ). fig2 shows a simple graph with two centres . the border consists of three nodes . one ( node 11 ) is a bridge node which clearly plays an essential role in connecting the two regions , the other two are danglers . applying rule 2 to the same graph gives us fig3 . here one can see that the entire border has been ‘ swallowed ’ by the dominant centre ( node 9 ). the rather peripheral role of nodes 10 and 12 — formerly classified as danglers — is now reflected in their distance ( 2 hops ) from their centre ( and of course in their low evc ). comparing these two figures thus confirms the expectations about the differences between the two rules : a border set , with or without danglers , is typically present with rule 1 , but absent with rule 2 . to illustrate the application of these ideas , we suppose that the nodes in fig2 and 3 are users in a computer network , while the links are effective connections between users which allow information flow . here the term ‘ effective ’ connections is used , because the links may not be direct : they may be mediated by files to which both users have read and write access [ 3 ]. one can conclude immediately from the analysis that the user system is naturally composed of two main groups . furthermore , node 9 is most central to the yellow group , while node 13 is most central for the blue group . finally , node 11 is a bridge node which is crucial for the flow of information between the two groups . suppose further that security for this small system is of interest . then one can immediately identify nodes 9 , 13 , and 11 as most urgently needing protection from whatever threats the system faces . nodes 9 and 13 are to be protected because they are centres of their regions : if they are infected , then there is a high probability that their entire region will also be infected . furthermore , one can give node 9 a higher priority for protection than node 13 , since its region is larger . finally , node 11 merits extra protection , since if it can be rendered immune to the threats , then these threats have no ready channel for spreading from one region to another . note that the use of rule 2 does not single out any border nodes for special protection — even though node 11 clearly plays an important role in connecting the two regions . however , rule 2 will identify the link between 11 and 13 as a bridge link . the obvious consequence of this is that the nodes on each end of each bridge link deserve special protective measures . this problem can be turned on its head , by giving the administrator the problem of spreading desired information over this same small network . the analysis then suggests an efficient strategy for doing so : one starts with the centres ( nodes 9 and 13 ), and arranges for the desired information to be broadcast from there . it is of course to be expected that the distance rule and the steepest - ascent rule will give conflicting results for some nodes . an important point to be gleaned from fig2 through 7 is that the general qualitative picture is rather insensitive to the choice of rule for defining regions . one can expect this to be the case for most graphs . the choice of centres is independent of which rule is used ; and these centres in turn exist precisely because they lie in a region of the graph that has some ‘ weight ’— that is , some number of nodes which are better connected to one another than to their ‘ surroundings ’. in short , the distinct rules , which ostensibly define regions , actually differ principally according to where they place the boundaries between regions - while the regions are in themselves rather stable objects . the basic criterion for defining a region ( and its centre ) has been well - connectedness , as measured by the ‘ smooth ’ graph function , eigenvector centrality or evc . in addition to defining natural clusters of a graph , our approach also assigns a unique role to each node in the graph . the two rules defining regions give qualitatively similar pictures for the graph structure as a whole , but rather different pictures in terms of which roles for nodes are present in the analysis . that is , rule 1 — associating nodes with regions based purely on their distance , in shortest path hops , from centres — places a significant number of nodes in the border set . these nodes in turn can be placed in two distinct roles : bridge nodes , and danglers ( see fig2 ). rule 2 holds more closely to the ‘ topographic ’ spirit of the approach as described within the present application , associating nodes with centres to which they are linked by a steepest - path ascent . this rule normally ( in the absence of special symmetry ) places no nodes in the border set - such that , with rule 2 , the two roles in the border set ( bridge nodes and danglers ) are essentially excluded , and all nodes are either centres of a region , or members of a region . one can imagine other rules for defining regions . the principal aspect of the approach according to the present invention is to identify centres first , and then let regions ‘ grow ’ outwards from these centres . both of the rules in accordance with the present invention fit this picture . the girvan / newman approach allows for a hierarchical decomposition of a graph , by breaking clusters into sub clusters , etc . a similar hierarchical decomposition could also be done according to the present invention , by eliminating border nodes and links , and applying the analysis according to the present invention to the resulting isolated regions . further roles can be defined based on the present analysis methods . in a very simple example , one can assign the role of “ edge of the region ” to those nodes which are connected to border elements ( nodes or links ). a different type of edge role may be assigned to those nodes which are ‘ farthest ’ from the centre , but not linked to any border elements . in the following , there are given applications of the method and system according to the present invention . clearly , both highly central nodes , and bridges ( links or nodes ) can be singled out as deserving extra attention and care in the preventing of the spread of damage . the highly central nodes are most likely to infect their regions ; and the bridges in turn must be guarded so that the infection does not spread from one region to others . hence it would be practical to immunize certain elements , and so ensure that any infection is isolated to a single region . for larger regions , it would also be practical to immunize the most central nodes in each region — prioritizing of course those regions with the greatest number of nodes . some instances like very well - connected peer - to - peer systems , on the other hand , are hard to protect , because they are too well - connected . this means that there are many nodes in each region with roughly the same centrality , and that there are many bridges between regions ( for those cases where there are more than one region ). the use of the system and method is applicable to many other types of graphs — in principle to any graph which is undirected . the method is easily modified — as described in the first embodiment — also to allow weights ( other than 0 or 1 ) for the links between nodes . the method and system according to the present invention will prove to be useful in the analysis of social networks — which may ( again ) have a ( positive ) strength associated with each link . when an innovation — a new product or service — is introduced into a population , the diffusion of the innovation follows a typical pattern . the innovation is usually discovered by a small group of early adopters , and after a while , depending on the early adopters &# 39 ; approval , the opinion leaders ( or leading adopters ) adopt the innovation . this is the critical point of the diffusion process , because the adoption of the innovation by the majority population usually depends on the acceptance of the opinion leaders [ 6 ]. in other words , adoption of an innovation takes off when the opinion leaders or social network hubs approve and adopt the innovation . the method as disclosed by the embodiment and its accompanying examples of the present invention , uses a modified adjacency matrix , based on flow - data , to compute a centrality measure for each node in a social network . this centrality index allows the most central nodes of the social network that this adjacency matrix represents to be picked out . these nodes — the network hubs — are , in social network terms , opinion leaders . they are thus good targets for spreading of information etc ., because they can potentially contribute to the acceleration of the diffusion of such information . an obvious application of the method is thus in the area of innovation diffusion . in the introductory part references have been made to epidemiology , telecommunication , datacom , electric power systems etc . it can be added that the result of the analysis according to the present invention further has a wide range of applications . one example is planning of timetables within transport , or transmission and distribution systems . by analysing traffic flow in a network of roads or a railway system , the best timing for distribution could be found to avoid traffic congestion . similarly , planning of traffic routing within telecom and datacom , as well as traffic planning on a more general basis , is an obvious application of the present invention , because the method easily can identify congestion points or good routes . still further on a more microscopic level it can be used within design of computers , for analysing internal traffic and thereby optimising its components and its buses . the latter is particularly useful within the area of parallel processing , to reduce traffic between processors / computers . note that while in the foregoing , there has been provided a detailed description of the present invention , it is to be understood that equivalents are to be included within the scope of the invention as claimed . the detailed description has to a large extent dealt with the theory behind the present invention , however the use of these theories has a broad field of applications , provided the graphs are undirected . thus on a general basis the method according to the present invention is applicable within a wide area of fields and it can be applied for solving problems within these areas . other advantageous embodiments of the present invention will be evident from the enclosed dependent claims . 1 . g . d . batista , p . eades , r . tamassia , and i . g . tollis , graph drawing : algorithms for the visualization of graphs , prentice hall , upper saddle river , n . j ., 1999 . 2 . p . bonacich , factoring and weighting approaches to status scores and clique identification , journal of mathematical sociology , 2 ( 1972 ), pp . 113 - 120 . 3 . m . burgess , g . canright , and k . engø , a graph theoretical model of computer security : from file access to social engineering , international journal of information security , ( 2003 ). submitted for publication . 4 . g . canright , k . engø - monsen , and å . weltzien , multiplex structure of the communications network in a small working group , social networks — an international journal of structural analysis , ( 2003 ). submitted for publication . 5 . m . girvan and m . newman , community structure in social and biological networks , proc . natl . acad . sci . usa , 99 ( 2002 ), pp . 8271 - 8276 . 6 . e . m . rogers , diffusion of innovations . free press , fifth edition , 2003 . 7 . j . m . kleinberg , authoritative sources in a hyperlinked environment , journal of the acm , 46 ( 1999 ), pp . 604 - 632 . 8 . m . newman , the structure and function of complex networks , siam review , 45 ( 2003 ), pp . 167 - 256 . 9 . a . y . ng , a . x . zheng , and m . i . jordan , stable algorithms for link analysis , in proc . 24th annual intl . acm sigir conference , acm , 2001 . 10 . a . oram , ed ., peer - to - peer : harnessing the power of disruptive technologies , o &# 39 ; 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