Community Structures of Networks

We present an approach to studying the community structures of networks by using linear programming (LP). Starting with a network in terms of (a) a collection of nodes and (b) a collection of edges connecting some of these nodes, we use a new LP-based method for simultaneously (i) finding, at minimal cost, a second edge set by deleting existing and inserting additional edges so that the network becomes a disjoint union of cliques and (ii) appropriately calibrating the costs for doing so. We provide examples that suggest that, in practice, this approach provides a surprisingly good strategy for detecting community structures in given networks. Keywords. Networks, graphs, community structures, clique partitioning problem, graph partitioning problem, linear programming, integer linear programming, food webs, Zachary's karate club.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: MICS
• Authors: William Y. C. Chen, Andreas W. M. Dress, Winking Q. Yu
• Keywords: Community Structures, Graph Partitioning Problem, Linear Programming, MICS 2008