Mapping flows on sparse networks with missing links
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Date
2020-07-06
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Journal Title
Physical Review E
Volume Title
102
Article Title
012302
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Abstract
Unreliable network data can cause community-detection methods to overfit and highlight spurious structures with misleading information about the organization and function of complex systems. Here we show how to detect significant flow-based communities in sparse networks with missing links using the map equation. Since the map equation builds on Shannon entropy estimation, it assumes complete data such that analyzing undersampled networks can lead to overfitting. To overcome this problem, we incorporate a Bayesian approach with assumptions about network uncertainties into the map equation framework. Results in both synthetic and real-world networks show that the Bayesian estimate of the map equation provides a principled approach to revealing significant structures in undersampled networks.