Analysis of Complex
Networks: Theory and Applications
Politecnico
di Milano 8-9-10,
15-16-17 October, 2024
PhD course organised by
AIMS
AND SCOPE
A network is a set of agents
connected in pairs by links. Despite the
simplicity of this definition, the theoretical
properties of networks are extremely rich and diverse.
Networks prove to be extremely flexible in modeling a
wide variety of phenomena characterized by a large
number of interconnected elementary units: social
networks, the Internet and the WWW,
sensor networks, ecological communities,
biochemical systems, energy transport
networks, economic and financial systems,
are just a few examples.
The course falls
within the scope of the educational activities
organized by the Ph.D. programme in
Information Technology at Politecnico di
Milano, but is not only
aimed at doctoral students, but at all researchers
operating in any areas of science and engineering
and interested in theory and applications of complex
networks. The
aim is to illustrate the fundamental theoretical
notions as well as some applications in
specific fields. First, basic definitions, some useful
indicators and the most important network models are
introduced. Dynamic processes evolving on the network
will then be considered, to illustrate how phenomena
such as cascading failures, epidemic/information
diffusion, or evolutionary games in structured
populations can evolve.
LECTURERS
Giovanni
Bonaccorsi, DIG, Politecnico di Milano [webpage]
Renato Casagrandi, DEIB, Politecnico di Milano [webpage]
Giuseppe De Nicolao,Universita' di Pavia [webpage]
Fabio Dercole, DEIB,
Politecnico di Milano [webpage]
Andrea
Flori, DIG, Politecnico di Milano [webpage]
Lorenzo Mari, DEIB, Politecnico di
Milano [webpage]
Paco Melia',
DEIB, Politecnico di Milano [webpage]
Carlo Piccardi, DEIB, Politecnico di Milano [webpage] Francesco Pierri,
DEIB, Politecnico di Milano [webpage] Lucia Tajoli, DIG, Politecnico di Milano [webpage]
The language of the course
(lectures and notes) is English.
Tuesday, October 8
9:00 - 13:00 [Piccardi -
Pierri]
Networks
and their representation
Examples of real world networks.
Undirected/directed, weighted/unweighed
networks. Adjacency and Laplacian matrices.
Bipartite networks and projections. Connected
and strongly connected components. Quantifying network properties
Distance and diameter. Clustering coefficient.
Degree, strength, and degree distribution.
Correlated networks.
Wednesday,
October 9
9:00 - 13:00 [Piccardi
- Pierri]
Networks
in economics
- The World Trade
Network:International trade.
Sectors. Centrality, complexity,
communities. - The configuration and
spillovers of the EU Emission
Trading System: The lecture will
explore the connectedness within the
main system for the trade of the
European allowances, namely the EU
ETS. Indeed, the way EU ETS
counterparts manage their allowances
may reflect market shocks on carbon
prices, while the latter may be in
turn affected also by how EU ETS
counterparts actively trade
allowances. Using spillover tests in
the time and frequency domains we
analyze the connectedness in the
system and how it relates to the trade
network configuration of the EU ETS. - Network analysis
of policy impacts: The lecture will explore
how the network structure of social
relations can be exploited for
public policy interventions. In
particular, referring to the recent
COVID-19 pandemic, the lecture will
show how the network of mobility of
individuals can be used to assess
the effectiveness of policy
interventions against the virus.
Furthermore, to assess the economic
impact of these interventions, the
network of payment transactions will
be analyzed. The analyses will draw
from methods in social network
analysis, machine learning and
econometrics.
Tuesday,
October 15
12:00 - 13:00 [De
Nicolao]
Opinion dynamics
in social networks Opinion
dynamics. Social networks. Stochastic
multi-agent systems. Markov processes.
Social power. Vote manipulation.
Wednesday,
October 16
9:00 - 11:00 [Pierri]
Investigating
(dis)information diffusion on
online social networks Information diffusion. Online social
networks (Twitter, Facebook). Disinformation.
Wednesday, October
16
11:00 - 13:00 [Dercole]
Evolutionary games on
networks Evolutionary
games in finite and infinite well-mixed
populations. Social dilemmas. Best response
and imitation processes of strategy update.
Evolutionary games in structured populations:
from models to experimental results. The roles
of direct and network reciprocity in fostering
cooperation.
Thursday,
October 17
9:00 - 10:00
[Piccardi]
Network
robustness Topological
level-of-service indicators. Robustness
to failures and attacks. Cascading
failures.
Networks in
epidemiological and ecological processes - Epidemiological processes on
networks: SIR-like processes on networks.
Epidemiological thresholds. Disease control via
network topology. Spatially-explicit networks.
Multi-layered networks. Environmental
connectivity. Human mobility using big-data
(mobile-phone traces). Covid-19.
- Network metrics for managing spatially
extended fisheries
If you are a PhD student at Politecnico di
Milano, you must
include the course in your study plan by the usual
procedure (read the notes below on the exam for
PhD students).
If you work at Politecnico di Milano but you
are not a PhD student, please write to phd-inf@polimi.it.
If you do not work at
Politecnico di Milano but in another university,
research centre, or company, please follow the instructions
here.
If you are a PhD
student at Politecnico di Milano and want to pass
the course exam (5 credits):
You will have to attend at
least 70% of the lessons (i.e. at least 4 days
out of 6: your will be asked to sign the attendance
sheet once a day).
After the
end of the course, but by January 1st, 2025,
write an email to Francesco Pierri (francesco.pierri@polimi.it).
Specify if you are interested in a specific topic
and/or in taking the exam with a specific
lecturer.
You will be assigned a lecturer
who will take care of your exam entirely. You will
agree with her/him on the topic of your exam:
the lecturer will give you a paper (or a small
set of papers) to study.
The form of your exam will also
be agreed: written report (approx. 4-6 single
space paces) or oral presentation (approx. 20
minutes, with slides). Both will contain an extended summary of the paper(s) and your personal criticisms of the content and/or style,
suggestions for improvements, possible applications,
etc.
The exam must be completed (report
delivered or oral presentation given) by July 1,
2025. Please note that unreasonable timeframes
cannot be accepted (e.g., due to deadlines in your
institutional duties). After the request, it will take
approximately two weeks for the assignment of a
paper/lecturer. Subsequently it is reasonable to
expect no less than 30 days to prepare the
report/presentation.
The same regulations apply if you are a PhD
student from another university and have to take
an exam (important: you must also sign the
attendance sheets).
The course will be held at the Department
of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB),
Politecnico di Milano, in Building 24, Room
"Beta" (ground floor).
Building 24 of Politecnico di Milano is located in
via Golgi, 40. It is at walking distance from
Lambrate FS station of the metro line 2 ("green line"),
the tram line 33, the bus line 93 and the Lambrate FS
train station.
For enquires about the application
procedure please contact phd-inf@polimi.it.
PhD students of the Politecnico's
doctoral courses, please contact the secretariat
of your doctorate in advance for any request relating to
the application procedure or for any other
administrative information.