Table 1. Complex network statistics commonly used in this work.
Measure | Definition | Interpretation |
---|---|---|
Node degree | Number of edges connected to a given node i. Nodes with relatively high values of k are called hubs | |
Shortest path length | where ri↔j is the shortest path between i and j | The number of edges encountered in the shortest path between node i and j |
Characteristic path length | Measure of network integration. Small values identify strongly integrated networks | |
Clustering coefficient | , with | Measure of fine-grain network segregation. It counts the average number of triangles t (3-node fully connected graphs) present in the network |
Modularity | , where M is a partition of V (whose elements are called modules) and euv is the proportion of links that connect nodes in module u with nodes in module v | It evaluates the tendency of the network to be reduced in independent (or scarcely dependent) modules |
Betweenness Centrality | , where ρhj is the number of shortest paths between h and j, and ρhj(i) is the number of shortest paths between h and j that pass through i | It is the amount of shortest paths that pass through the node i. It roughly indicates how much information burdens the node i |
Small-worldness | , where Cr and Lr are the randomized version of the original network; S >1 denotes small-world networks | It determines how much the network is a small-world network. |
All formulas are referred to a (undirected) graph 〈V, E〉, with |V| = N, opportunely described by the adjacency N × N-matrix A = aij where aij = 1 if and only if there exist the element (i, j) in the set E and 0 otherwise.