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International Conference on Complex Sciences

Complex 2009: Complex Sciences pp 1178–1189Cite as

Characterizing the Structural Complexity of Real-World Complex Networks

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Abstract

Although recent research has shown that the complexity of a network depends on its structural organization, which is linked to the functional constraints the network must satisfy, there is still no systematic study on how to distinguish topological structure and measure the corresponding structural complexity of complex networks. In this paper, we propose the first consistent framework for distinguishing and measuring the structural complexity of real-world complex networks. In terms of the smallest d of the dK model with high-order constraints necessary for fitting real networks, we can classify real-world networks into different structural complexity levels. We demonstrate the approach by measuring and classifying a variety of real-world networks, including biological and technological networks, small-world and non-small-world networks, and spatial and non-spatial networks.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University College Cork, Ireland

    Jun Wang & Gregory Provan

Authors
  1. Jun Wang
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  2. Gregory Provan
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Network Technology Research Centre, Research Techno Plaza, Nanyang Technology University, 4th story X‘Frontiers, Block 50 Nanyang Drive, 637553, Singapore

    Jie Zhou

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© 2009 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Wang, J., Provan, G. (2009). Characterizing the Structural Complexity of Real-World Complex Networks. In: Zhou, J. (eds) Complex Sciences. Complex 2009. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 4. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02466-5_118

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02466-5_118

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-02465-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-02466-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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