Networks and Complexity
From NECSIWiki
Networks consist of a set of nodes and links between them. When a system can be described as a set of elements (corresponding to the nodes) and the interactions between them (corresponding to the links) we think of the network as a conceptual or mathematical model of the system. The idea of a network as a model of many complex systems is appealing as it focuses the atttention on the interactions between the elements rather than the elements themselves. Even without describing the specifics of the interactions, we can ask which nodes are interacting with each other and which are not.
We also sometimes more loosely use the term network to refer to a complex system.
Recently there have been many advances showing that the behavior of networks in biological, social and technological (man made) systems have properties that are common to each other. These include that the networks are sparsely connected so one node is only connected to a very small fraction of the other nodes. This means that who is connected to whom is an important property of the system.
[edit] Topics to discuss:
- Network topology
- Sparse networks
- Small world networks
- Scale-free networks
- Types of networks
- Networks&Examples Examples of real world networks
- Evolving Networks
- Network motifs
- Dynamic Centrality in Complex Networks
- Synchrony in Dynamic Networks
