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Complex networks were firstly studied by Leonhard Euler in 1736 when he solved the Königsberger Brückenproblem. Recent research has revealed a rich and complicated network topology in various model systems as well as in several fields of applications, such as transportation and social networks, or the WWW. It will be discussed whether this approach can lead to useful new insights into rather large complex systems or whether it is fashionable only to interpret various phenomena from this viewpoint and publish papers on that.
Many promising approaches have already lead to useful applications, e.g. immunization problems (spreading of diseases), functioning of biological/physiological processes as protein networks, brain dynamics, or functioning of social networks as network of vehicle traffic in a region or air traffic. A challenging task is to understand the implications of such network structures on the functional organization of the system Earth. We show especially that the climate system can be interpreted as a highly dynamic network. This approach gives new insights into the vulnerability of the system Earth. Osipov, G.V., J. Kurths, and C. Zhou, Synchronization in Oscillatory Networks, Springer Complexity, Berlin 2007. Arenas, A., A. Diaz-Guilera, J. Kurths, Y. Moreno, and C. Zhou, Phys. Reports 2008, 469, 93. Donges, J., Y. Zou, N. Marwan, and J. Kurths, Europ. Phys. J. ST 2009 (in press). |
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