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CMU-ISRI-05-109
Institute for Software Research International
School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
CMU-ISRI-05-109
A Formal Characterization of Cellular Networks
Terrill L. Frantz, Kathleen M. Carley
September 2005
Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems
CASOS Technical Report
CMU-ISRI-05-109.pdf
Keywords: Social network, cellular network, cell, cell-core,
k-cell, covert network
We present precise and explicit, definitions and descriptions of pertinent
terms and constructs related to a specific type of network topology -- the
cellular network. First, we clarify the construct of a cell and
establish the concept of a cell-core and cell-periphery;
next, we present details of the broader, cellular network. Further,
we introduce the notion of a k-cell subgraph construct. Throughout the
report, we introduce several supplementary terms related to these concepts.
The terminology and formalization we present can be effectively utilized
when conversing about real-world social networks, but may be essential
as guidelines when constructing cellular social-networks for virtual
experiments. Increasingly, the network form referred to as "cellular" is
appearing in empirical social-network studies and is being applied in
virtual experiments of social-networks. The presence of a cellular
network is particularly prominent in research pertaining to covert
and terrorist organizations; although, the form can be found in other
less saturnine situations. While the structure of a cellular network
is often rather intuitive, to avoid confusion researchers, analysts
and especially experimenters have need for formal definitions and
precise a description of the topology. To date, no such formalization
of the cellular network topology--in the context of social networks--has
been published.
14 pages
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