Network Science: Complexity in Nature and Technology

by Ernesto Estrada (Editor), Maria Fox (Editor), Desmond J. Higham (Editor)

Network Science is the emerging field concerned with the study of large, realistic networks. This interdisciplinary endeavor, focusing on the patterns of interactions that arise between individual components of natural and engineered systems, has been applied to data sets from activities as diverse as high-throughput biological experiments, online trading information, smart-meter utility supplies, and pervasive telecommunications and surveillance technologies. This unique text/reference provides a fascinating insight into the state of the art in network science, highlighting the commonality across very different areas of application and the ways in which each area can be advanced by injecting ideas and techniques from another. The book includes contributions from an international selection of experts, providing viewpoints from a broad range of disciplines. It emphasizes networks that arise in nature―such as food webs, protein interactions, gene expression, and neural connections―and in technology―such as finance, airline transport, urban development and global trade. Topics and Features: begins with a clear overview chapter to introduce this interdisciplinary field; discusses the classic network science of fixed connectivity structures, including empirical studies, mathematical models and computational algorithms; examines time-dependent processes that take place over networks, covering topics such as synchronisation, and message passing algorithms; investigates time-evolving networks, such as the World Wide Web and shifts in topological properties (connectivity, spectrum, percolation); explores applications of complex networks in the physical and engineering sciences, looking ahead to new developments in the field. Researchers and professionals from disciplines as varied as computer science, mathematics, engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, ecology, neuroscience, epidemiology, and the social sciences will all benefit from this topical and broad overview of current activities and grand challenges in the unfolding field of network science.

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2014

About the author

Professor Estrada has an internationally leading reputation for shaping and developing the study of complex networks. His expertise ranges in the areas of network structure, algebraic network theory, dynamical systems on networks and the study of random models of networks. He has a distinguished track record of high-quality publications, which has attracted more than 8,000 citations. His h-index (number of papers with at least h citations) is 51. His publications are in the areas of network theory and its applications to social, ecological, engineering, physical, chemical and biological real-world problems. Professor Estrada has published two text books on network sciences both published by Oxford University Press in 2011 and 2015, respectively. He has demonstrated a continuous international leadership in his field where he has been invited and plenary speaker at the major conferences in network sciences and applied mathematics.