Walk-based measure of balance in signed networks: Detecting lack of balance in social networks

Estrada, Ernesto; Benzi, Michele

doi:10.1103/physreve.90.042802

Cited by 66 publications

(113 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Following this criterion, a network can be divided in blocks; nodes within the same block are positively connected among them while they are negatively connected to nodes in other blocks (Doreian & Mrvar, ). We calculated K using the definition of (Estrada & Benzi, ),

K = \frac{t r (e^{boldA})}{t r (e^{| A |})}

, where | A | is the underlying unsigned graph of A . High values of K indicate that the network presents a “balanced” structure (with K = 1 indicating a perfect balance), while low values indicate that several links do not fulfil this criterion and network is “unbalanced” (“frustrated,” sensu Doreian & Mrvar, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The structure of plant spatial association networks is linked to plant diversity in global drylands

et al. 2018

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1. Despite commonly used to unveil the complex structure of interactions within ecological communities and their value to assess their resilience against external disturbances, network analyses have seldom been applied in plant communities. We evaluated how plant-plant spatial association networks vary in global drylands, and assessed whether network structure was related to plant diversity in these ecosystems. 2. We surveyed 185 dryland ecosystems from all continents except Antarctica and built networks using the local spatial association between all the perennial plants species present in the communities studied. Then, for each network we calculated four descriptors of network structure (link density, link weight mean and heterogeneity, and structural balance), and evaluated their significance with null models. Finally, we used structural equation models to evaluate how abiotic factors (including geography, topography, climate and soil conditions) and network descriptors influenced plant species richness and evenness. 3. Plant networks were highly variable worldwide, but at most study sites (72%) presented common structures such as a higher link density than expected. We also find evidence of the presence of high structural balance in the networks studied. Moreover, all network descriptors considered had a positive and significant effect on plant diversity, and on species richness in particular. . Our results constitute the first empirical evidence showing the existence of common network architectures structuring dryland plant communities at the global scale, and suggest a relationship between the structure of spatial networks and plant diversity. They also highlight the importance of system-level approaches to explain the diversity and structure of interactions in plant communities, two major drivers of terrestrial ecosystem functioning.

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K = \frac{t r (e^{boldA})}{t r (e^{| A |})}

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following this criterion, a network can be divided in blocks; nodes within the same block are positively connected among them while they are negatively connected to nodes in other blocks (Doreian & Mrvar, 2009). We calculated K using the definition of (Estrada & Benzi, 2014)…”

Section: Network Indicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The structure of plant spatial association networks is linked to plant diversity in global drylands

et al. 2018

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“…Previous studies have shown that social systems (both human and animals) are more balanced (i.e. exhibit less frustration) than is expected by chance, and some have hypothesized that the evolution of the system encourages cooperation and promotes stability by removing these unbalanced links (Szell et al , Facchetti et al , Ilany et al , Estrada and Benzi ). However, the scarcity of real signed networks has hampered the evaluation of this hypothesis in other systems apart from social networks (but see Altafini et al for a similar approach in metabolic networks).…”

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confidence: 99%

Evidence of structural balance in spatial ecological networks

et al. 2016

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International audienceDespite recent advances in applying networks to study ecological systems, most of the network datasets are built attending only to a single type of interaction between nodes, which can be an oversimplification. In the present work, we built ecological networks that had positive and negative links for multiple plant communities based on the local spatial association between species. Then, we evaluated whether those networks were in balance, a hypothesis commonly formulated for real signed graphs but never tested in systems other than social networks. Specifically, we quantified the global and the local structural balance in the networks. We found that plant community networks were more balanced than expected by chance, and that this pattern was due to a large number of balanced triads to the detriment of unbalanced ones. Furthermore, this pattern was consistent among all of the types of the plant communities examined, which suggests that configurations that promote structural balance might be common in ecological signed networks. We also found that almost all networks had some unbalanced components, which might be responsible for the adaptation of the system. Mechanisms behind these structure and possible applications for community ecology are discussed. Our results encourage testing structural balance in other ecological networks to confirm if it is a widespread architecture of natural systems

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“…Structural balance, one of the most popular properties in ensembles of signed networks, reflects the origin of tensions and conflicts, and its computation and transformation have received much attention from physicist, sociologist, economist, ecologist, ecologist and mathematician [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. The structural balance theory introduced by Heider states that the relations "the friend of my friend is my enemy" and "the enemy of my enemy is my enemy" are unbalanced in the strong definition, which is based on the statistical analysis of the balance of signed triads from the perspective of social psychology [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A memetic algorithm for computing and transforming structural balance in signed networks

Gong

et al. 2015

Knowledge-Based Systems

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Walk-based measure of balance in signed networks: Detecting lack of balance in social networks

Cited by 66 publications

References 28 publications

The structure of plant spatial association networks is linked to plant diversity in global drylands

The structure of plant spatial association networks is linked to plant diversity in global drylands

Evidence of structural balance in spatial ecological networks

A memetic algorithm for computing and transforming structural balance in signed networks

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