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In NEXTNet, networks are directed graphs, i.e. fully defined by a set of nodes \(V\) and edges (or links) \(E \subset V \times V\) where self-edges i.e. links of the form \((v,v)\) are forbidden. NEXTNet provides various different types of algorithms for creating synthetic networks, as well as networks with are defined by specifying \(V\) and \(E\).

In addition to the plain (unweighted and static) networks defined above, NEXTNet also supports temporal and weighted networks.

In temporal networks, the set of edges/links depends on the time \(t\), i.e. \(E=E(t)\). On such networks, epidemics can only spread from a node \(u\) to a node \(v\) at times where \((u,v) \in E(t)\). At other times, the infectiousness of \(u\) for the particular link \((u,v)\) is effectively zero.

In weighted networks, each \(e \in E\) has an assigned weight \(w_e \geq 0\). These weights modulate the infectiousness of nodes, see the discussion in time_distributions. Weighted networks can be interpreted as a limit case of temporal networks in which edges fluctuate with at a very high frequency. The weight then expresses the fraction of times at which the link is present.

NEXTNetR supports the following types of static, unweighted networks:

the following static weighted networks

and the following temporal networks