Sparse dynamical Boltzmann machine for reconstructing complex networks with binary dynamics

General optimization framework for accurate and efficient reconstruction of symmetric complex networks from dynamical data

The challenging problem of network reconstruction from dynamical data can in general be formulated as an optimization task of solving multiple linear equations. Existing approaches are of the two types: Point-by-point (PBP) and global methods. The local PBP method is computationally efficient, but the accuracies of its solutions are somehow low, while a global method has the opposite traits: High accuracy and high computational cost. Taking advantage of the network symmetry, we develop a novel framework integrating the advantages of both the PBP and global methods while avoiding their shortcomings: i.e., high reconstruction accuracy is guaranteed, but the computational cost is orders of magnitude lower than that of the global methods in the literature. The mathematical principle underlying our framework is block coordinate descent (BCD) for solving optimization problems, where the various blocks are determined by the network symmetry. The reconstruction framework is validated by numerical examples with a variety of network structures (i.e., sparse and dense networks) and dynamical processes. Our success is a demonstration that the general principle of exploiting symmetry can be extended to tackling the challenging inverse problem or reverse engineering of complex networks. Since solving a large number of linear equations is key to a plethora of problems in science and engineering, our BCD-based network reconstruction framework will find broader applications.

Control Meets Inference: Using Network Control to Uncover the Behaviour of Opponents

Using observational data to infer the coupling structure or parameters in dynamical systems is important in many real-world applications. In this paper, we propose a framework of strategically influencing a dynamical process that generates observations with the aim of making hidden parameters more easily inferable. More specifically, we consider a model of networked agents who exchange opinions subject to voting dynamics. Agent dynamics are subject to peer influence and to the influence of two controllers. One of these controllers is treated as passive and we presume its influence is unknown. We then consider a scenario in which the other active controller attempts to infer the passive controller's influence from observations. Moreover, we explore how the active controller can strategically deploy its own influence to manipulate the dynamics with the aim of accelerating the convergence of its estimates of the opponent. Along with benchmark cases we propose two heuristic algorithms for designing optimal influence allocations. We establish that the proposed algorithms accelerate the inference process by strategically interacting with the network dynamics. Investigating configurations in which optimal control is deployed. We first find that agents with higher degrees and larger opponent allocations are harder to predict. Second, even factoring in strategical allocations, opponent's influence is typically the harder to predict the more degree-heterogeneous the social network.

Interpretable machine learning for high-dimensional trajectories of aging health

We have built a computational model for individual aging trajectories of health and survival, which contains physical, functional, and biological variables, and is conditioned on demographic, lifestyle, and medical background information. We combine techniques of modern machine learning with an interpretable interaction network, where health variables are coupled by explicit pair-wise interactions within a stochastic dynamical system. Our dynamic joint interpretable network (DJIN) model is scalable to large longitudinal data sets, is predictive of individual high-dimensional health trajectories and survival from baseline health states, and infers an interpretable network of directed interactions between the health variables. The network identifies plausible physiological connections between health variables as well as clusters of strongly connected health variables. We use English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA) data to train our model and show that it performs better than multiple dedicated linear models for health outcomes and survival. We compare our model with flexible lower-dimensional latent-space models to explore the dimensionality required to accurately model aging health outcomes. Our DJIN model can be used to generate synthetic individuals that age realistically, to impute missing data, and to simulate future aging outcomes given arbitrary initial health states.

Exploring node interaction relationship in complex networks by using high-frequency signal injection

Many practical systems can be described by complex networks. These networks produce, day and night, rich data which can be used to extract information from the systems. Often, output data of some nodes in the networks can be successfully measured and collected while the structures of networks producing these data are unknown. Thus, revealing network structures by analyzing available data, referred to as network reconstruction, turns to be an important task in many realistic problems. Limitation of measurable data is a very common challenge in network reconstruction. Here we consider an extreme case, i.e., we can only measure and process the data of a pair of nodes in a large network, and the task is to explore the relationship between these two nodes while all other nodes in the network are hidden. A driving-response approach is proposed to do so. By loading a high-frequency signal to a node (defined as node A), we can measure data of the partner node (node B), and work out the connection structure, such as the distance from node A to node B and the effective intensity of interaction from A to B, with the data of node B only. A systematical smoothing technique is suggested for treating noise problem. The approach has practical significance.

Backbone reconstruction in temporal networks from epidemic data

Many complex systems are characterized by time-varying patterns of interactions. These interactions comprise strong ties, driven by dyadic relationships, and weak ties, based on node-specific attributes. The interplay between strong and weak ties plays an important role on dynamical processes that could unfold on complex systems. However, seldom do we have access to precise information about the time-varying topology of interaction patterns. A particularly elusive question is to distinguish strong from weak ties, on the basis of the sole node dynamics. Building upon analytical results, we propose a statistically-principled algorithm to reconstruct the backbone of strong ties from data of a spreading process, consisting of the time series of individuals' states. Our method is numerically validated over a range of synthetic datasets, encapsulating salient features of real-world systems. Motivated by compelling evidence, we propose the integration of our algorithm in a targeted immunization strategy that prioritizes influential nodes in the inferred backbone. Through Monte Carlo simulations on synthetic networks and a real-world case study, we demonstrate the viability of our approach.

Reconstructing signed networks via Ising dynamics

Revealing unknown network structure from observed data is a fundamental inverse problem in network science. Current reconstruction approaches were mainly proposed to infer the unsigned networks. However, many social relationships, such as friends and foes, can be represented as signed social networks that contain positive and negative links. To the best of our knowledge, the method of reconstructing signed networks has not yet been developed. To this purpose, we develop a statistical inference approach to fully reconstruct the signed network structure (positive links, negative links, and nonexistent links) based on the Ising dynamics. By the theoretical analysis, we show that our approach can transfer the problem of maximum likelihood estimation into the problem of solving linear systems of equations, where the solution of the linear system of equations uncovers the neighbors and the signs of links of each node. The experimental results on both synthetic and empirical networks validate the reliability and efficiency of our method. Our study moves the first step toward reconstructing signed networks.