Network Perspective Research Articles

Spread of parking difficulty in urban environments: A parking network perspective

AbstractSpread of parking difficulty can be regarded as a special cascading failure process of urban parking systems. A comprehensive understanding of this process can be greatly helpful to build a more robust parking system. Parking network, a specified complex network, is proposed to model, simulate, and analyse the failure process of urban parking systems in this paper. This model is applied to the analysis of parking systems in an abstract city grid and the downtown area of Luohu, Shenzhen. The results demonstrate that the parking network can capture subtle variations among various parking cruising behaviours or strategies from a network perspective. To enhance the utility of the parking network, an auxiliary indicator named “Parking Difficulty Index” is introduced to help assess the failure degree of urban parking system, estimate the optimal timing for parking guidance intervention, and evaluate the effectiveness of various guidance strategies in mitigating parking difficulties.

Coordination and Disaster Response: A Humanitarian Organizational Network perspective in Uganda

This paper examined the relationship between humanitarian organizational network, coordination and disaster response in Uganda. Contextually, most research in the area of disaster management rotates around the entire disaster management process/stages. There is inadequate research that tends to study a single stage in the disaster management cycle especially the response stage. Additionally, there are limited studies that have been conducted in developing countries like Uganda, most studies have been and continue to be conducted in highly disaster-prepared, coordinated and developed states. The study used a cross-sectional survey design in which quantitative methods were applied. Findings indicate that coordination positively influenced disaster response. Based on the literature and findings, the study concludes that disaster response is dependent on coordination. The study recommends that responding organizations should establish clear communication channels, build trust and social capital, and ensure that there is learning and adaptation to complex disaster environments. This will lead to better coordination within the humanitarian organizational networks and in turn successful disaster response operations.

Revealing the urban heat exposure risk network: Exploring the possibility of mitigate heat-related risks form a network perspective

The exposure of urban residents to heat waves is expected to increase in the future. However, the analyses regarding the spread characteristics and trends of heat exposure risk in different cities are lacking. In this study, we proposed a framework to identify the network spread characteristics of heat exposure risk based on morphological spatial pattern analysis and applied it to 33 provincial capital cities in China. We explored the patterns and characteristics of heat exposure risk diffusion at different urbanization stages and for different urban sizes and in response to socioeconomic factors. The results show that network spread is common in all cities. From 2000 to 2020, heat exposure risk exhibited a strengthening diffusion trend, and line to Surface accounted for the highest proportion and area. There are great differences in the degree of heat exposure risk expansion in different cities. Urban size determines the speed of expansion in heat exposure risk, and the proportion of risk areas indicates that some medium-sized cities, such as Haikou and Lanzhou warrant greater research attention. Socioeconomic factors, notably GDP, positively influence risk expansion, but their impact weakens over time and with urban size growth. The present research results provide evidence for the spread characteristics of heat exposure risk, and provide a new perspective for mitigating the heat-related risk.

Positive sexuality, relationship satisfaction, and health: a network analysis.

Positive sexuality, defined as the happiness and fulfillment individuals derive from their sexual experiences, expressions, and behaviors, has been linked to relationship satisfaction and health. However, the intricate associations between positive sexuality and relationship functioning and health indicators have rarely been explored from a network perspective. This approach, by analyzing the interconnections among these factors within a broader system, can offer insights into complex dynamics and identify key variables for targeted interventions. The present study applied network analysis to uncover interconnections between positive sexuality, relationship satisfaction, and health indicators, highlight the most relevant variables and explore potential gender-based differences in a sample of 992 partnered individuals (51% women, aged 18-71 years). Networks were estimated via Gaussian Graphical Models, and network comparison test was used to compare men and women. Results indicated that variables related to positive sexuality were more highly interconnected than the rest of the network. There were small-to-negligible connections between positive sexuality and relationship satisfaction variables, both of which had negligible or no connections with health. The network was globally invariant across gender, though a few connections were gender-specific. The most important variables, regardless of gender, related to pleasurable feelings during sexual intercourse. The findings underscore the importance of enhancing positive sexual experiences within intimate relationships and have implications for research and clinical practice in positive sexuality.

Probabilistic graph model and neural network perspective of click models for web search

Probabilistic graph model and neural network perspective of click models for web search

Temporal local clustering coefficient uncovers the hidden pattern in temporal networks.

Identifying and extracting topological characteristics are essential for understanding associated structures and organizational principles of complex networks. For temporal networks where the network topology varies with time, beyond the classical patterns such as small-worldness and scale-freeness extracted from the perspective of traditional aggregated static networks, the temporality and simultaneity of time-varying interactions should also be included. Here we extend the traditional analysis on the local clustering coefficient C in static networks and study the dynamical local clustering coefficient of temporal networks. We demonstrate that the temporal local clustering coefficient TC conveys the hidden information of nodes' neighboring connectance when interactions occur at various rhythms. By systematically analyzing various empirical datasets, we find that TC uncovers different interaction patterns in different types of temporal networks. Specifically, we show that TC has a strong positive correlation with C in efficiency-related networks, whereas they are uncorrelated in social activity-related networks. Moreover, TC helps to exclude interference from accidental interactions and reflect the actual clustering properties of network nodes. Our results shed light on the importance of digging into dynamical characteristics to fundamentally understand the underlying temporal structures of real complex systems.

How safety value is exchanged in Chinese modern megaprojects: A stakeholder value network perspective

To visualize and quantify these exchanges among primary stakeholders in megaprojects, this study introduces network stakeholder value network as the core methodology. Starting with a qualitative organizational safety behavior model encompassing 8 stakeholders and 61 value flows, it's built based on 3 organizational safety behavior categories. Moreover, questionnaire data from 356 experts quantifies the model, and the design structure matrix identifies 13845 safety value paths, including 4827 cycles. Analysis delves into critical cycles, stakeholders, flows, and organizational safety behavior types to refine safety strategies. The findings, based on Chinese megaprojects, suggest that contractors and governments must lead safety awareness efforts, with safety compliance paramount for all parties. The study's contributions are threefold: firstly, it broadens the scope to encompass organizational safety behavior; secondly, it introduces a novel approach to visualize and quantify safety value flows; and thirdly, it considers multiple types of value exchanges, underscores their significance in promoting safety value, and offers practical recommendations to strengthen construction safety performance.

Exploring memory-related network via dorsal hippocampus suppression.

Successful memory processes require coordinated activity in a large-scale brain network, extending beyond a few key, well-known brain regions like the hippocampus. However, the specific brain regions involved and how they orchestrate their activity that is pertinent to memory processing remain unclear. Our study, using a chemogenetics-rsfMRI- behavior approach in awake rats, elucidates a comprehensive framework of the extended memory-associated network. This knowledge offers a broader interpretation of memory processes, enhancing our understanding of the neural mechanisms behind memory function, particularly from a network perspective.

The US-China race for technological centrality: A network perspective

This research analyzes the evolution of technological leadership in the global patents network, focusing on the roles of the US and China from 2001 to 2021. The US's central position in the network faces increasing challenges from China's economic and technological rise. This study goes beyond conventional approaches that analyze material capabilities by adopting a structural dynamic approach, which allows us to examine not only a country's centrality but also the mechanisms that lead a country to become central in the network. International technological influence is assessed through the global patents network by analyzing each country's position and growth mechanisms. The results show that, despite China's substantial growth in the network, the US remains the undisputed central power, benefiting from a growth mechanism that favors already central countries.

Measuring the centrality of nodes in networks based on the interstellar model

Measuring the centrality of nodes in a network is a vital and significant task in analyzing the influence of nodes and information dissemination. Existing methods measure the centrality of nodes mainly from local, global and semi-global network perspectives. Currently, semi-global centrality metrics are valued due to the fact that they can achieve high accuracy close to that of global centrality metrics with a slight increase in time complexity over local centrality metrics. In this paper, a novel semi-global centrality metric based on the interstellar model is proposed. First, an interstellar model of information dissemination is constructed and a variable velocity is set for the information after it leaves the source node, while velocity at which the information arrives at the next node determines whether the information can be further forwarded. Then, the attraction slingshot effect is considered to express the facilitation provided by the nodes that forward the information. The centrality of a node can be measured by the number of all nodes, including itself, that can forward the information sent by that node. Experiments with some popular centrality metrics are conducted on some real-world networks, and the results show that the proposed centrality metric has better performance without significant increase in time complexity, and also provides a plausible explanation for information forwarding.

The role of trophic, mutualistic, and competitive interactions in an industrial symbiosis process implementation: an ecological network perspective

For both government and private institutions, the development of collaboration networks becomes an element of great importance for the implementation of related policies such as the circular economy and sustainable practices in manufacturing. Despite the above, such initiatives have not received as much attention in literature but have been decisive as both public and private initiatives. Initiatives in Latin America do not escape this scenario, especially in the creation of conditions that allow the promotion of approaches such as industrial symbiosis. In this way, the present research is aimed at identifying the role of trophic, mutualistic, and competitive interactions in an industrial symbiosis process implementation. A network analysis model is used to achieve this purpose. This technique allows us to know the degree of importance of the different actors that are part of a network, as well as the factors that determine the implementation of initiatives such as industrial symbiosis. Among the results are that empirical findings confirm the presence of trophic interactions that enhance resource efficiency, mutualistic interactions fostering collaboration and synergy, and competitive interactions promoting efficiency and dynamism. Additionally, a green culture, business size, and innovation activities are revealed as influential factors amplifying network dynamics.

Evaluation and impact factors of international competitiveness of China’s cobalt industry from the perspective of trade networks

In recent years, with the development of the new energy industry, the demand for cobalt as a raw material for power batteries has been increasing. However, China itself has a shortage of cobalt resources. Therefore, overcoming poor resource conditions and enhancing the international competitiveness of the cobalt industry have become urgent issues. This paper is based on global trade data on cobalt resources from 2007 to 2020. A panel regression model is constructed from the perspective of trade networks, and Entropy-Topsis is used to construct a comprehensive evaluation index system for the international competitiveness of critical nonferrous metals. This study empirically examines the impact of the trade network characteristics of cobalt resources on international competitiveness, assigns practical significance to trade network characteristic indicators, and analyses the overall competitiveness changes in the global cobalt industry chain and its upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. The research findings reveal the following key points: (1) In recent years, the competitive focus of the cobalt industry chain in various countries has shifted from upstream and midstream to midstream and downstream, with increasingly fierce trade competition downstream, gradually tilting toward countries such as South Korea, Japan, and China. (2) Cobalt trade competition, which was initially characterized by competition among multiple countries, has gradually become more centralized and stable, with differences in the competitiveness of various countries occurring at different stages of the cobalt industry chain. (3) Network centrality and network heterogeneity both have a significant promoting effect on the international competitiveness of the industry, while network connectivity has a significant inhibitory effect on the improvement of international competitiveness.On this basis, the study also suggests some policy implications. The purpose of the study is to enhance the international competitiveness of China's cobalt industry from a trade perspective and to investigate the developments of cobalt trade between China and the rest of the world.

A holistic digital forensic analysis of Discord - Storage, memory, and network perspectives.

In the last decade, the market share and user base of social media applications have witnessed significant growth. However, this surge in popularity has inadvertently drawn the attention of criminals aiming to exploit these platforms for illicit activities. The forensic examination of these applications emerges as a pivotal avenue for uncovering valuable insights into criminal behavior and identifying suspects. Discord, a social media platform, has become a significant focal point for such illicit activities. In this paper, we examine the remnants of Discord on both Windows and Linux operating systems, employing storage, memory, and network analysis techniques to review the remnants of Discord. Our investigation reveals a range of crucial artifacts that have been successfully recovered across all three areas of analysis, including login and payment details, chat history, account information, and much more. Collectively, these artifacts constitute a valuable resource for forensic investigations, allowing the reconstruction of most of the user's activity.

Qian Xuesen's question I: Collectivism's influence on serial order effect in divergent thinking

Westerners are better at divergent thinking than Easterners, and previous studies have found this difference relates to collectivism-individualism, however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between individualism-collectivism and divergent thinking from the perspective of semantic networks. A total of 158 participants were measured with the scale of collectivism-individualism tendencies and divergent thinking. Results showed that collectivism and individualism were not significantly associated with the performance of divergent thinking in figural task. And collectivism, rather than individualism, exhibited a negative correlation with originality but a positive correlation with appropriateness in verbal task. Furthermore, collectivism moderated the serial order of originality and appropriateness in verbal task. This study provides preliminary insights into the impact of culture on creativity from semantic network perspectives.

Investigating the barriers and mitigation strategies for biogas adoption in a developing economy: A multi-stakeholder networks perspective

Biogas production is one of the sustainable solutions for tackling organic waste and addressing serious environmental issues. In developing nations, however, stakeholders such as farmers, biogas plant owners, project developers, and investors continue to face diverse challenges in biogas production. Research on potential mitigation strategies to address the complex challenges in biogas adoption in the developing countries context is also scarce. Accordingly, we adopted a multi-stakeholder networks perspective to investigate the barriers and potential strategies for biogas adoption in Pakistan. To this end, we conducted twelve semi-structured interviews with energy consultants and environmental experts working in the biogas industry. Building on the multi-stakeholder networks perspective, the findings contribute to the existing literature by critically analyzing diverse barriers such as the interference of farmer unions, fear of project failure, mindset issues of stakeholders, dependence on a few feedstock suppliers, and lack of policy safeguards for investors. Further, the findings provide in-depth insights into mitigation strategies such as engagement with local communities, proactive biogas policies and best practices in developed and developing economies, cost-benefit analysis of biogas production, close monitoring of the upstream supply chain activities in the biogas industry, incentivizing the segregation of municipal solid waste, and collaboration between industry and academia, which are lacking in the current literature. We argue that rich insights from the present study could facilitate practitioners, stakeholders, and policymakers in advancing sustainable biogas policies and regulatory frameworks, promoting alternative feedstock options, improving stakeholder collaboration, initiating biogas awareness programs, and effectively managing biogas supply chain operations.

International collaboration towards innovation management: a network perspective and the Global Innovation Index

This article aims to fill an existing knowledge gap within the literature: the characteristics of networks of publication on innovation management research and its relationship with country’s innovativeness. The study is grounded in the theory that the creation of knowledge and collaboration within networks play a pivotal role in improving a nation’s innovation capacity. It presents and describes the characteristics of co-authorship networks of scientific publications among authors from different countries. The published articles were extracted from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, considering a period of 12 years. Following the identification of pivotal countries, the research proceeded to investigate whether their positioning within the network has an impact on their innovation capabilities. To underpin this analysis, data from the Global Innovation Index ranking were employed. Among the six countries demonstrating noteworthy centrality metrics throughout the entire period, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom are also categorized as innovators according to the Global Innovation Index. The overlap observed suggests a relationship between countries maintaining consolidated and resilient innovation networks and positive performance in terms of innovation. However, it should be noted that innovation is influenced by a range of factors, including strategies and policies on international collaboration.

Procurement-network contributions to healthcare supply chain resilience: a case study from Canada

PurposeThis article investigates how the healthcare sector can reorganize its procurement network to better balance its resilience and cost-minimization objectives.Design/methodology/approachA single case study was conducted on the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave in the Quebec public healthcare network. Interviews were conducted with stakeholders from the supply chain management (SCM) departments at eight public healthcare institutions.FindingsTwo major challenges in the early months of the pandemic impacted the development of resilience in the healthcare network. First, peripheral actors’ decisions, which orient procurement objectives, limited the deployment of resilience measures in the supply chain (SC). Second, SC resilience included hundreds of products other than PPE that are critical to the delivery of care. The article illustrates the challenges of SCR, which will inevitably be accompanied by additional costs when purchasing in the public healthcare sector is often focused on the lowest price.Originality/valueDrawing from the network perspective model, this article examines the actions of Quebec supply network stakeholders through the three phases of SCR: anticipation, response to disruption, and recovery. Finally, the article suggests that decision-makers remove the cost of resilience measures from the purchase price of products, in order to maintain these measures over the long term.

Exploring the pathways of drug repurposing and Panax ginseng treatment mechanisms in chronic heart failure: a disease module analysis perspective.

Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) is a significant global public health issue, with high mortality and morbidity rates and associated costs. Disease modules, which are collections of disease-related genes, offer an effective approach to understanding diseases from a biological network perspective. We employed the multi-Steiner tree algorithm within the NeDRex platform to extract CHF disease modules, and subsequently utilized the Trustrank algorithm to rank potential drugs for repurposing. The constructed disease module was then used to investigate the mechanism by which Panax ginseng ameliorates CHF. The active constituents of Panax ginseng were identified through a comprehensive review of the TCMSP database and relevant literature. The Swiss target prediction database was utilized to determine the action targets of these components. These targets were then cross-referenced with the CHF disease module in the STRING database to establish protein-protein interaction (PPI) relationships. Potential action pathways were uncovered through Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses on the DAVID platform. Molecular docking, the determination of the interaction of biological macromolecules with their ligands, and visualization were conducted using Autodock Vina, PLIP, and PyMOL, respectively. The findings suggest that drugs such as dasatinib and mitoxantrone, which have low docking scores with key disease proteins and are reported in the literature as effective against CHF, could be promising. Key components of Panax ginseng, including ginsenoside rh4 and ginsenoside rg5, may exert their effects by targeting key proteins such as AKT1, TNF, NFKB1, among others, thereby influencing the PI3K-Akt and calcium signaling pathways. In conclusion, drugs like dasatinib and midostaurin may be suitable for CHF treatment, and Panax ginseng could potentially mitigate the progression of CHF through a multi-component-multi-target-multi-pathway approach. Disease module analysis emerges as an effective strategy for exploring drug repurposing and the mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine in disease treatment.

Institutional Investor Information Networks and Stock Price Synchronicity

ABSTRACT The inefficiency of information flow in the capital market has led to a significant increase in stock price synchronicity, which has emerged as a critical challenge to the development of emerging capital markets. Based on a complex network perspective, this article investigates the relationship between institutional investor information networks and stock price synchronicity using data from Chinese public fund heavy holdings between 2011 and 2022. Empirical tests show that network correlation significantly reduces stock price synchronicity, while network centrality improves it. Mechanism analysis suggests that the information network affects stock price synchronicity through information diffusion and spillover effects. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the impact of information network structure on stock price synchronicity varies under different market conditions. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for strengthening the supervision of institutional investors’ behavior and reducing stock price synchronicity in emerging markets.

Spatial Heterogeneity Analysis of Factors on Commuting Carbon Emissions: Evidence from the Shenzhen Metropolitan Area in China

As an essential part of daily life, commuting produces considerable carbon emissions and is currently receiving increased amounts of attention. Comprehensive explorations of carbon emissions and the spatial distribution of their effects based on previous studies are lacking. First, we adopt stepwise regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) to explore the diverse impacts of carbon emissions on the different layers of metropolitan areas, employing factors from the perspectives of socioeconomics, transportation services, and road networks. Our findings show that optimizing the road network structure could be an effective approach to reducing carbon emissions from commuting, especially in the periphery of metropolitan areas. In addition, the mixed use of land contributes to reducing carbon emissions from commuting, especially in the central areas. Thus, the coverage of public transport should be improved, especially in peripheral regions. Policymakers should monitor the spatial heterogeneity of variables and develop suitable policies to adapt to the conditions of the different layers of metropolitan areas.