network-modeling

Likelihood-Based Inference for Stochastic Models of Sexual Network Formation

Sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) constitute a major public health concern. Mathematical models for the transmission dynamics of STDs indicate that heterogeneity in sexual activity level allow them to persist even when the typical behavior of the …

Goodness of Fit of Social Network Models

We present a systematic examination of real network datasets using maximum likelihood estimation for exponential random graph models as well as new procedures to evaluate how well the models fit the observed graphs. These procedures compare …

New specifications for exponential random graph models

The most promising class of statistical models for expressing structural properties of social networks is the class of Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs), also known as $p^*$ models. The strong point of these models is that they can represent …

Positional Estimation Within a Latent Space Model for Networks

Recent advances in latent space and related random effects models hold much promise for representing network data. The inherent dependency between ties in a network makes modeling data of this type difficult. In this article we consider a recently …

Assessing Degeneracy in Statistical Models of Social Networks

This paper presents recent advances in the statistical modeling of random graphs that have an impact on the empirical study of social networks. Statistical exponential family models (Wasserman and Pattison 1996) are a generalization of the Markov …

Sexual contacts and epidemic thresholds

Distributions of the number of sexual partners reported in surveys show a pronounced skew, with most people having had one or no partners in the past year and a small fraction having had many. Liljeros and colleagues infer from the results of a …

On 'Sexual contacts and epidemic thresholds,' models and inference for Sexual partnership distributions

Recent work has focused attention on statistical inference for the population distribution of the number of sexual partners based on survey data. The characteristics of these distributions are of interest as components of mathematical models for the …

An Assessment of Preferential Attachment as a Mechanism for Human Sexual Network Formation

Recent research into the properties of human sexual–contact networks has suggested that the degree distribution of the contact graph exhibits power–law scaling. One notable property of this power–law scaling is that the epidemic threshold for the …

Interval Estimates for Epidemic Thresholds in Two-Sex Network Models

Epidemic thresholds in network models of heterogeneous populations characterized by highly right-skewed contact distributions can be very small. When the population is above the threshold, an epidemic is inevitable and conventional control measures …

Likelihood-Based Inference for Stochastic Models of Sexual Network Formation

Sexually-Transmitted Diseases (STDs) constitute a major public health concern. Mathematical models for the transmission dynamics of STDs indicate that heterogeneity in sexual activity level allow them to persist even when the typical behavior of the …