This book offers detailed surveys and systematic discussion of models, algorithms and applications for link mining, focusing on theory and technique, and related applications: text mining, social network analysis, collaborative filtering and bioinformatics.

This book concentrates on mining networks, a subfield within data science. Data science uses scientific and computational tools to extract valuable knowledge from large data sets. Once data is processed and cleaned, it is analyzed and presented to support decision-making processes. Data science and machine learning tools have become widely used in companies of all sizes. Networks are often large-scale, decentralized, and evolve dynamically over time. Mining complex networks aim to understand the principles governing the organization and the behavior of such networks is crucial for a broad range of fields of study. Here are a few selected typical applications of mining networks: Community detection (which users on some social media platforms are close friends). Link prediction (who is likely to connect to whom on such platforms). Node attribute prediction (what advertisement should be shown to a given user of a particular platform to match their interests). Influential node detection (which social media users would be the best ambassadors of a specific product). This textbook is suitable for an upper-year undergraduate course or a graduate course in programs such as data science, mathematics, computer science, business, engineering, physics, statistics, and social science. This book can be successfully used by all enthusiasts of data science at various levels of sophistication to expand their knowledge or consider changing their career path. Jupiter notebooks (in Python and Julia) accompany the book and can be accessed on https://www.ryerson.ca/mining-complex-networks/. These not only contain all the experiments presented in the book, but also include additional material. Bogumił Kamiński is the Chairman of the Scientific Council for the Discipline of Economics and Finance at SGH Warsaw School of Economics. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Data Science Laboratory at Ryerson University. Bogumił is an expert in applications of mathematical modeling to solving complex real-life problems. He is also a substantial open-source contributor to the development of the Julia language and its package ecosystem. Paweł Prałat is a Professor of Mathematics in Ryerson University, whose main research interests are in random graph theory, especially in modeling and mining complex networks. He is the Director of Fields-CQAM Lab on Computational Methods in Industrial Mathematics in The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences and has pursued collaborations with various industry partners as well as the Government of Canada. He has written over 170 papers and three books with 130 plus collaborators. François Théberge holds a B.Sc. degree in applied mathematics from the University of Ottawa, a M.Sc. in telecommunications from INRS and a PhD in electrical engineering from McGill University. He has been employed by the Government of Canada since 1996 where he was involved in the creation of the data science team as well as the research group now known as the Tutte Institute for Mathematics and Computing. He also holds an adjunct professorial position in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Ottawa. His current interests include relational-data mining and deep learning.

Real world physical and abstract data objects are interconnected, forming gigantic, interconnected networks. By structuring these data objects and interactions between these objects into multiple types, such networks become semi-structured heterogeneous information networks. Most real world applications that handle big data, including interconnected social media and social networks, scientific, engineering, or medical information systems, online e-commerce systems, and most database systems, can be structured into heterogeneous information networks. Therefore, effective analysis of large-scale heterogeneous information networks poses an interesting but critical challenge. In this monograph, we investigate the principles and methodologies of mining heterogeneous information networks. Departing from many existing network models that view data as homogeneous graphs or networks, our semi-structured heterogeneous information network model leverages the rich semantics of typed nodes and links in a network and uncovers surprisingly rich knowledge from interconnected data. This semi-structured heterogeneous network modeling leads to a series of new principles and powerful methodologies for mining interconnected data, including (1) rank-based clustering and classification, (2) meta-path-based similarity search and mining, (3) relation strength-aware mining, and many other potential developments. This monograph introduces this new research frontier and points out some promising research directions.

The Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining (ESNAM) is the first major reference work to integrate fundamental concepts and research directions in the areas of social networks and applications to data mining. The second edition of ESNAM is a truly outstanding reference appealing to researchers, practitioners, instructors and students (both undergraduate and graduate), as well as the general public. This updated reference integrates all basics concepts and research efforts under one umbrella. Coverage has been expanded to include new emerging topics such as crowdsourcing, opinion mining, and sentiment analysis. Revised content of existing material keeps the encyclopedia current. The second edition is intended for college students as well as public and academic libraries. It is anticipated to continue to stimulate more awareness of social network applications and research efforts. The advent of electronic communication, and in particular on-line communities, have created social networks of hitherto unimaginable sizes. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of this unique field, the essential contributions of diverse disciplines, from computer science, mathematics, and statistics to sociology and behavioral science, are described among the 300 authoritative yet highly readable entries. Students will find a world of information and insight behind the familiar façade of the social networks in which they participate. Researchers and practitioners will benefit from a comprehensive perspective on the methodologies for analysis of constructed networks, and the data mining and machine learning techniques that have proved attractive for sophisticated knowledge discovery in complex applications. Also addressed is the application of social network methodologies to other domains, such as web networks and biological networks.

This is a supplementary volume to the major three-volume Handbook of Combinatorial Optimization set. It can also be regarded as a stand-alone volume presenting chapters dealing with various aspects of the subject in a self-contained way.

Now in its second edition, this book focuses on practical algorithms for mining data from even the largest datasets.