Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.
IKT-Labs, Skopje, Macedonia.
Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 5;10(1):1928. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-57609-3.
We develop graphlet analysis for multiplex networks and discuss how this analysis can be extended to multilayer and multilevel networks as well as to graphs with node and/or link categorical attributes. The analysis has been adapted for two typical examples of multiplexes: economic trade data represented as a 957-plex network and 75 social networks each represented as a 12-plex network. We show that wedges (open triads) occur more often in economic trade networks than in social networks, indicating the tendency of a country to produce/trade of a product in local structure of triads which are not closed. Moreover, our analysis provides evidence that the countries with small diversity tend to form correlated triangles. Wedges also appear in the social networks, however the dominant graphlets in social networks are triangles (closed triads). If a multiplex structure indicates a strong tie, the graphlet analysis provides another evidence for the concepts of strong/weak ties and structural holes. In contrast to Granovetter's seminal work on the strength of weak ties, in which it has been documented that the wedges with only strong ties are absent, here we show that for the analyzed 75 social networks, the wedges with only strong ties are not only present but also significantly correlated.
我们为多重网络开发了图元分析，并讨论了如何将这种分析扩展到多层和多级网络，以及具有节点和/或链路分类属性的图。该分析已适应于两种典型的多重网络示例：经济贸易数据表示为 957 重网络，75 个社交网络各自表示为 12 重网络。我们表明，在经济贸易网络中，楔形（开放三角）比在社交网络中更常见，这表明一个国家在局部三角结构中生产/交易未封闭产品的倾向。此外，我们的分析提供了证据表明，多样性较小的国家往往形成相关的三角形。楔形也出现在社交网络中，但是社交网络中的主要图元是三角形（封闭三角）。如果多重网络结构表示强关系，那么图元分析则为强/弱关系和结构洞的概念提供了另一个证据。与 Granovetter 关于弱关系强度的开创性工作相反，在该工作中已经记录了仅具有强关系的楔形不存在，在这里，我们表明，对于分析的 75 个社交网络，仅具有强关系的楔形不仅存在，而且还具有显著的相关性。
