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New Direction in Degree Centrality Measure: Towards a Time-Variant Approach

Author

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  • Shahadat Uddin

    (Centre for Complex Systems Research and Project Management Program, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Liaquat Hossain

    (Centre for Complex Systems Research and Project Management Program, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Rolf T. Wigand

    (Departments of Information Science & Management, University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), Little Rock, USA)

Abstract

Degree centralityis considered to be one of the most basic measures of social network analysis, which has been used extensively in diverse research domains for measuring network positions of actors in respect of the connections with their immediate neighbors. In network analysis, it emphasizes the number of connections that an actor has with others. However, it does not accommodate the value of the duration of relations with other actors in a network; and, therefore, this traditionaldegree centralityapproach regards only the presence or absence of links. Here, we introduce a time-variant approach to thedegree centralitymeasure —time scale degree centrality(TSDC), which considers both presence and duration of links among actors within a network. We illustrate the difference between traditional and TSDC measure by applying these two approaches to explore the impact ofdegreeattributes of apatient-physiciannetwork evolving during patient hospitalization periods on the hospital length of stay (LOS) both at a macro- and a micro-level. At a macro-level, both the traditional and time-scale approaches todegree centralitycan explain the relationship between thedegreeattribute of thepatient-physiciannetwork and LOS. However, at a micro-level or small cluster level, TSDC provides better explanation while the traditionaldegree centralityapproach is found to be inadequate in explaining its relationship with LOS. Our proposed TSDC measure can explore time-variant relations that evolve among actors in a given social network.

Suggested Citation

  • Shahadat Uddin & Liaquat Hossain & Rolf T. Wigand, 2014. "New Direction in Degree Centrality Measure: Towards a Time-Variant Approach," International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making (IJITDM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 13(04), pages 865-878.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijitdm:v:13:y:2014:i:04:n:s0219622014500217
    DOI: 10.1142/S0219622014500217
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Giulio Cainelli & Mario Maggioni & Erika Uberti & Annunziata De Felice, 2010. "The strength of strong ties: Co-authorship and productivity among Italian economists," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0125, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
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