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Updated: Aug 9, 2025

A System for Tracking the Dynamics of Social Preference Behavior in Small Rodents
Published on: November 21, 2019
A System-Independent Derivation of Preferential Attachment from the Principle of Least Effort
François Xavier Machu1, Ru Julie Wang1, Jean Louis Cheng1
1Laboratoire SCIQ, ESIEA Group, 9 Rue Vésale, 75005 Paris, France.
Abstract:
Preferential attachment (PA) is a widely observed behavior in many living systems and has been used in modeling many networks. The aim of this work is to show that the mechanism of PA is a consequence of the fundamental principle of least effort. We derive PA directly from this principle in maximizing an efficiency function. This approach not only allows a better understanding of the different PA mechanisms already reported but also naturally extends these mechanisms with a non-power law probability of attachment. The possibility of using the efficiency function as a general measure of attachment efficiency is also investigated.
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