Coinage networks in fifth-century BCE Ionia

The paper systematizes the role of qualitative methods, statistical analyses, and formal network analysis in sociological network research, and argues for their systematic combination. Formal network analysis mainly aims at a description of network structures as well as at an explanation of the behavior of the network at the systemic level. Formal network analysis can also be used in order to explain individual behavior or the existence of individual connections from network structure. Statistical analyses of ego-centered networks are used to correlate individual attributes with the structure and composition of the individual embeddedness, thus providing a statistical explanation of network effects and determinants. Qualitative methods are important for exploring network structures, and for understanding the meaning connected to them. A historical overview shows that these three strands have long co-existed in sociological network research without engaging in combined research efforts. Combinations of these methods prove useful when considering the various aspects of networks (individual connections, structural patterns, and meaning).

Closeness and betweenness are forms of spatial network analysis grounded in a long-standing tradition of measuring accessibility and flow potential. More recently, these measures have been enhanced by the concept of spatial localization, producing effective models for the prediction of pedestrian and vehicle driver behaviour.A contradiction arises where the distance metric used to define locality does not match the distance metric used to define shortest paths for closeness and betweenness. A typical case is the use of angular shortest paths within a Euclidean buffer as a pedestrian flow model. Such a model assumes that people make a mode choice based on distance, but a route choice based on least angular change – even when this results in an excessively long ‘problem route’, which conflicts with their criterion for mode choice.This study examines the prevalence of problem routes and the magnitude of their effect on some pedestrian and vehicle models. We show that while in a weighted analysis, pathological cases could invalidate an entire model, in the models presented the effect of this contradiction is minor. We do this by comparing model predictions to real flow data, using four strategies for handling problem routes: ignore, discard, reroute and strict locality. Strict locality is justified on the grounds of bounded rationality. We find all strategies to give broadly similar results, although the reroute and strict strategies give marginally better simulation accuracy. We also present a discussion of the characteristics of each strategy, and findings on computational efficiency.We conclude that it is prudent in any computation of localized closeness and betweenness to consider the impact of problem routes; however, they do not necessarily invalidate these forms of analysis, which remain useful.

Ecology is often defined as the study of the relationships between organisms and their environment. The quantitative analysis of interconnections between species and their abiotic environment has therefore been a central issue. The mathematical analysis of interconnections is also important in several other fields. Practical quantitative analysis of interconnections in complex systems began with the economist Wassily Leontief (1941) using what has come to be called Input-Output (I-O) Analysis. More recently, these concepts, sometimes called Flow Analysis, have been applied to the study of interconnections in ecosystems (Hannon 1973, 1976, 1979, 1985a,b,c; Costanza & Neill 1984). Related ideas were developed from a different perspective in ecology, under the heading of Compartmental Analysis (Barber et al. 1979, Patten & Finn, 1979; Funderlic & Heath, 1971; Hett & O’Neill, 1971). We refer to the total of all variations of the analysis of ecological or economic networks as Network Analysis (See Field et al. 1989, Chapter 1 of this volume for distinctions among the various forms of network analysis).

Towards a reliable smart city through formal verification and network analysis

This paper explores the possibility of using social network analysis and visualization as a tool for qualitative research in human geography. The approach uses formal network analysis in concert with ethnographic research methods. Specifically, we take a performative approach to network analysis that sees network visualization as a process that produces space for research. Using networks of civil society organizations as our example, this paper highlights the debates over what social network analysis allows and omits, focusing in particular on issues related to flows, power, boundary demarcation and abstraction. From a methodological perspective, much can be lost when the conceptual and theoretical arguments about networks are applied to the material and embodied practices that constitute network relations. Nevertheless, the formal analysis of such networks can provide a representation of relationships at a moment in time that can help to both express those relationships and to open new questions that can be explored using other methods. Just as abstraction is used in an iterative process to move between empirical evidence and conceptual and theoretical arguments, the representation of networks can be part of a methodological approach that moves between the representation of relationships and the ways that various agents express, experience, and remake those relationships. Using the example of research on NGOs and civil society organizations promoting citizenship for young people in divided societies, we explore the utility – and limitations – of working in the liminal space of formal network analysis and more ethnographic approaches.

Here we summarize evidence obtained by our group during the last two decades, and contrasted it with a review of related data from the available literature to show that behavioral syndromes involving attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), externalizing disorders, and substance-use disorder (SUD) share similar signs and symptoms (i.e., have a biological basis as common syndromes), physiopathological and psychopathological mechanisms, and genetic factors. Furthermore, we will show that the same genetic variants harbored in different genes are associated with different syndromes and that non-linear interactions between genetic variants (epistasis) best explain phenotype severity, long-term outcome, and response to treatment. These data have been depicted in our studies by extended pedigrees, where ADHD, externalizing symptoms, and SUD segregate and co-segregate. Finally, we applied here a new formal network analysis using the set of significantly replicated genes that have been shown to be either associated and/or linked to ADHD, disruptive behaviors, and SUD in order to detect significantly enriched gene categories for protein and genetic interactions, pathways, co-expression, co-localization, and protein domain similarity. We found that networks related to pathways involved in axon guidance, regulation of synaptic transmission, and regulation of transmission of nerve impulse are overrepresented. In summary, we provide compiled evidence of complex networks of genotypes underlying a wide phenotype that involves SUD and externalizing disorders.

article Share on Review of 'social and economic networks' Author: Haris Aziz University of Warwick University of WarwickView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGecom ExchangesVolume 8Issue 1July 2009Article No.: 3pp 1–3https://doi.org/10.1145/1598780.1598783Published:01 July 2009Publication History 0citation154DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads154Last 12 Months0Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Recent critiques have drawn important attention to the depoliticized consensus and empty promises embedded in network discourses of educational policy. While acceding this critique, this discussion argues that some forms of network analysis – specifically those adopting actor‐network theory (ANT) approaches – actually offer useful theoretical resources for policy studies. Drawing from ANT‐inspired studies of policy processes associated with educational standards, the article shows the ambivalences and contradictions as well as the possibilities that can be illuminated by ANT analysis of standards as networks. The discussion outlines the diverse network conceptions, considerations, and sensibilities afforded by the ANT approaches. Then, it shows four phenomena that have been highlighted by ANT studies of educational standards: ordering (and rupturing) practice through ‘immutable mobiles,’ local universality, tensions among networks of prescription and networks of negotiation, and different co‐existing ontological forms of the same standards. The conclusion suggests some starting points, drawing from these ANT‐inspired network analyses, for examining the policy processes associated with educational standards.

This article explores the extent to which formal network analysis can be used to study aspects of entanglement, the latter referring to the collective sets of dependencies between humans and things. The data used were derived from the Neolithic sites of Boncuklu and Catalhoyuk in central Turkey. The first part of the analysis involves using formal network methods to chart the changing interactions between humans and things at these sites through time. The values of betweenness and centrality vary through time in ways that illuminate the known transformations at the site as, for example, domestic cattle are introduced. The ego networks for houses across four time periods at the two sites are also patterned in ways that contribute to an understanding of social and economic trends. In a second set of analyses, formal network methods are applied to intersecting operational chains, or chainworks. Finally, the dependencies between humans and things are evaluated by exploring the costs and benefits of particular material choices relative to larger entanglements. In conclusion, it is argued that three types of entanglement can be represented and explored using methods taken from the network sciences. The first type concerns the large number of relations that surround any particular human or thing. The second concerns the ways in which entanglements are organized. The third type of entanglement concerns the dialectic between dependence (potential through reliance) and dependency (constraint through reliance).

Network analysis of intrasite material networks and ritual practice at Pueblo Bonito

We analysed the supportive social networks associated with the conservation of six threatened Australian bird taxa, in one of the first network analyses of threatened species conservation programmes. Each example showed contrasting vulnerabilities. The Alligator Rivers yellow chatEpthianura crocea tunneyihad the smallest social network and no real action was supported. For the Capricorn yellow chatEpthianura crocea macgregorithe network was centred on one knowledgeable and committed actor. The orange-bellied parrotNeophema chrysogasterhad a strongly connected recovery team but gaps in the overall network could limit communication. The recovery teams for the swift parrotLathamus discolorand Baudin's black-cockatooCalyptorhynchus baudiniihad strong links among most stakeholders but had weak ties to the timber industry and orchardists, respectively, limiting their capacity to manage threatening processes. Carnaby's black cockatooCalyptorhynchus latirostrisseemed to have the most effective social network of any of the taxa studied but may be vulnerable to skill shortages. In each case the network analysis pointed to gaps that could be filled to enhance the conservation effort, and highlighted the importance of recovery teams. The research suggests that formal network analysis could assist in the design of more effective support mechanisms for the conservation of threatened species.

It is a truism nowadays to say that an archaeological site is embedded in extensive networks of relations. Connectivity has played a role in archaeological thinking for a considerable amount of time, and the adoption by archaeologists of both theoretical and methodological frameworks centring connectivity has become widespread. One such example is network analysis, which has seen a significant surge in interest within the field over the past two decades. Archaeological network analysis is far from a mature science, however, and the character of the archaeological record tends to yield networks with richly contextualised nodes connected by ties that, in stark contrast, are often based on very limited evidence for connectivity. Furthermore, archaeological networks are often accompanied by limited discussion about the implications for a connection between two sites interpreted through a commonality in material culture. In particular, the use of historical records to contextualise the interactions between sites remains somewhat uncommon. This paper takes an archaeo-historical network perspective by characterising land-use practices in early modern Iceland by mapping property records describing relations of ownership, resource claims and social obligations alongside comprehensive field archaeological surveys as extensive networks of interdependence between the known farmstead sites occupied at the time. This approach shows that these vibrant networks, documented both spatially and historically, regularly show signs of emergent properties. As these intersite relations begin to exert their own agency, the networks are cut, and the network lines begin to bundle up in knots and entanglements. The study, therefore, does not aim to quantify the presented networks using formal network analysis, but to use the networks as a starting point to investigate the properties that emerge as people aim to enact and materialise networks of property rights, resource claims and exchange.

Co-operation in forest planning processes for non-industrial private forestry The study includes seven articles. The aim is to describe the regional co-operation network and co-operation practices with stakeholders and forest owners in forest planning processes. The study focuses on the regional forestry programme process and regional forest management planning, which also produces the majority of holding-level forest management plans in Finland. The research methods applied include quantitative survey, formal network analysis, qualitative content analysis, and cognitive mapping. Quantitative results were synthesised using multi dimensional scaling, principal component and clustering analysis. Advocacy orientation was found to be a distinctive feature of the forestry network of Finland’s northern Forest Centres. Theese non-industrial-private-forestry-oriented organizations played the foremost role in the network, and they shared the same opinions about forestry. Environmental organizations, on the other hand, were not involved in the regional forestry programme process in the way they wanted to be involved. This was the case despite a lot effort having been put into the participative policy process as part of the regional forestry programme. The planners taking part in regional forest planning mainly followed the information exchange and marketing oriented co-operation, while having regular contacts almost only with local forest management associations and forest-industry companies. When management plans were constructed for non-industrial private forest owners, the degree of interaction between forest owners and planners varied a lot depending on the forest owners’ interests and the practical constraints that the planners had in implementing interaction. Three types of forest owners were found according to their interaction with the forest planner: multi-objective-learners, multi-objective influential, and economically oriented trusters. The results call for a problem analysis phase to be developed at the beginning of the planning process for adapting the planning process for the owner-specific startingpoints. Some suggestions for developing forest management planning are also presented. The regional forest programme process could follow the principles of collaborative and open participation. In future, more attention should be put on the timing, legitimisation, representativeness, and decision-making procedures of the processes. The co-operation procedures applied in regional forest management planning could focus on information guidance, be situation dependent, and be agreed upon with forest owners. Thus, the main development needs involve dealing with clarification of the roles of society-driven regional data collection and estate specific management planning, and consciousness about optional co-operation needs and procedures.

For the past 20 years, researches using the lens of world system theory (and other global political economy perspectives) have come to a better understanding of many of the anomalies in urbanisation patterns across more and less developed countries that had befuddled researchers whose assumptions left out global sources of social change. Recently this line of research has moved beyond regarding cities as mere objects of global forces, also theorising about their importance as lynchpins in the spatial organisation of the world economy. In this paper we review some of the scholarship that emphasises large cities' roles as important modes of production, consumption, exchange and control at the global level; we develop the argument that systematic tinkages—economic, cultural, political or social-retational—among global cities are likely to reveal the spatial organisation of the world-system; we review our position that formal network analysis provides a most promising methodological framework for analysing and mapping global intercity linkages; and we present a map of the current world city system based on our network analysis of recent air travel among many of the world's great cities. We point out that our analysis is very preliminary and provides only a rough chart of the world city system at one point in time, and the data requirements for more detailed world city system maps for several periods of time are imposing, to say the least. Nevertheless, such a project holds the promise of revealing much about the spatial structure of our world system, how it has changed; how it is likely to change in the future; and how cities' populations are affected by these changes. Completing the project will probably require collaboration among researchers in different countries.

Formal network analyses have a long history in archaeology but have recently seen a rapid florescence. Network models drawing on approaches from graph theory, social network analysis, and complexity science have been used to address a broad array of questions about the relationships among network structure, positions, and the attributes and outcomes for individuals and larger groups at a range of social scales. Current archaeological network research is both methodologically and theoretically diverse, but there are still many daunting challenges ahead for the formal exploration of social networks using archaeological data. If we can face these challenges, archaeologists are well positioned to contribute to long-standing debates in the broader sphere of network research on the nature of network theory, the relationships between networks and culture, and dynamics of social networks over the long term.