Improving model performance of shortest‐path‐based centrality measures in network models through scale space

Abstract

SummaryThe quality of the solution in resolving a complex network depends on either the speed or accuracy of the results. While some health studies prioritize high performance, fast algorithms are favored in scenarios requiring rapid decision‐making. A comprehensive understanding of the problem necessitates a detailed analysis of the network and its individual components. Betweenness Centrality (BC) and Closeness Centrality (CC) are commonly employed measures in network studies. This study introduces a new strategy to compute BC and CC that assesses their sensitivity in the scale space while measuring the shortest path. The scale space is generated by incorporating a scale parameter that is shown to achieve up to 60% performance improvements for various datasets. The study provides in‐depth insights into the importance of the scale space analysis. Finally, a flexible measurement tool is provided that is suitable for various types of problems. To demonstrate the flexibility and applicability, we experimented with two methods for 10 different graphs using the proposed approach.