Header

UZH-Logo

Maintenance Infos

Temporal similarity metrics for latent network reconstruction: The role of time-lag decay


Liao, Hao; Liu, Ming-Kai; Mariani, Manuel; Zhou, Mingyang; Wu, Xingtong (2019). Temporal similarity metrics for latent network reconstruction: The role of time-lag decay. Information Sciences, 489:182-192.

Abstract

When investigating the spreading of a piece of information or the diffusion of an innovation, we often lack information on the underlying propagation network. Reconstructing the hidden propagation paths based on the observed diffusion process is a challenging problem which has recently attracted attention from diverse research fields. To address this reconstruction problem, based on static similarity metrics commonly used in the link prediction literature, we introduce new node-node temporal similarity metrics. The new metrics take as input the time-series of multiple independent spreading processes, based on the hypothesis that two nodes are more likely to be connected if they were often infected at similar points in time. This hypothesis is implemented by introducing a time-lag function which penalizes distant infection times. We find that the choice of this time-lag function strongly affects the metrics’ reconstruction accuracy, depending on the network’s clustering coefficient, and we provide an extensive comparative analysis of static and temporal similarity metrics for network reconstruction. Our findings shed new light on the notion of similarity between pairs of nodes in complex networks.

Abstract

When investigating the spreading of a piece of information or the diffusion of an innovation, we often lack information on the underlying propagation network. Reconstructing the hidden propagation paths based on the observed diffusion process is a challenging problem which has recently attracted attention from diverse research fields. To address this reconstruction problem, based on static similarity metrics commonly used in the link prediction literature, we introduce new node-node temporal similarity metrics. The new metrics take as input the time-series of multiple independent spreading processes, based on the hypothesis that two nodes are more likely to be connected if they were often infected at similar points in time. This hypothesis is implemented by introducing a time-lag function which penalizes distant infection times. We find that the choice of this time-lag function strongly affects the metrics’ reconstruction accuracy, depending on the network’s clustering coefficient, and we provide an extensive comparative analysis of static and temporal similarity metrics for network reconstruction. Our findings shed new light on the notion of similarity between pairs of nodes in complex networks.

Statistics

Citations

Dimensions.ai Metrics
10 citations in Web of Science®
12 citations in Scopus®
Google Scholar™

Altmetrics

Downloads

101 downloads since deposited on 13 Jun 2019
17 downloads since 12 months
Detailed statistics

Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:03 Faculty of Economics > Department of Business Administration
08 Research Priority Programs > Social Networks
Dewey Decimal Classification:330 Economics
Scopus Subject Areas:Physical Sciences > Software
Physical Sciences > Control and Systems Engineering
Physical Sciences > Theoretical Computer Science
Physical Sciences > Computer Science Applications
Social Sciences & Humanities > Information Systems and Management
Physical Sciences > Artificial Intelligence
Language:English
Date:21 March 2019
Deposited On:13 Jun 2019 07:54
Last Modified:22 Sep 2023 01:42
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0020-0255
OA Status:Green
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2019.01.081
Other Identification Number:merlin-id:17706
  • Content: Accepted Version
  • Language: English