deciphering network community structure by surprise破解网络社区结构感到意外.pdfVIP

Deciphering Network Community Structure by Surprise ´ Rodrigo Aldecoa, Ignacio Marın* ´ Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientıficas, Valencia, Spain Abstract The analysis of complex networks permeates all sciences, from biology to sociology. A fundamental, unsolved problem is how to characterize the community structure of a network. Here, using both standard and novel benchmarks, we show that maximization of a simple global parameter, which we call Surprise (S), leads to a very efficient characterization of the community structure of complex synthetic networks. Particularly, S qualitatively outperforms the most commonly used criterion to define communities, Newman and Girvan’s modularity (Q). Applying S maximization to real networks often provides natural, well-supported partitions, but also sometimes counterintuitive solutions that expose the limitations of our previous knowledge. These results indicate that it is possible to define an effective global criterion for community structure and open new routes for the understanding of complex networks. ´ Citation: Aldecoa R, Marın I (2011) Deciphering Network Community Structure by Surprise. PLoS ONE 6(9): e24195. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024195 Editor: Eshel Ben-Jacob, Tel Aviv University, Israel Received April 14, 2011; Accepted August 4, 2011; Published September 1, 2011 ´ Copyright: 2011 Aldecoa, Marın. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credit