Speaker:Wai Kin Victor Chan, Professor of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Topic:Hyper-Network Models of Human Social Networks

Time:October 25, 2013, 9:30am

Location:B127, EMS

Organizer:Department of Management Science &Engineering

Abstract:A hyper-network is an integration of multi-layered connections of members in a community, such as the Internet and an eco-system. It differs from the traditional models of networks in that hyper-network analysis helps multi-dimensional revelation of network properties such as the centers of connections between layers and the shortened length of connections between nodes (or, the centrality of members) due to such centers of connections. In this talk, we introduce the notion of hyper-networks. We use it to model human social networks and derive analytic formula for its two network statistics, average distance and average degree. To illustrate the generation of hyper-networks, we present four methods of growing a hyper-network through colliding layers (i.e., adding nodes and links one by one).