events: Edge formation and dissolution over time

In Dynet: Tidy Temporal Network Analysis

Edge formation and dissolution over time

Description

When relationships are born and when they die. In a static network every edge is present at once; here the turnover itself is the finding. A course typically shows formation front-loaded and dissolution piling up at the end, and a group that never dissolves an edge is behaving differently from one that constantly re-forms them.

Usage

events(
  dn,
  measure = c("formation", "dissolution"),
  sessions = c("bounded", "collapse", "separate"),
  start = NULL,
  end = NULL,
  step = NULL,
  window = NULL,
  plot = FALSE
)

Arguments

dn	A temporal network from dynet().
measure	One or more of "formation" (spells beginning in the bin), "dissolution" (spells ending in the bin), "active" (spells alive during the bin), "new_pairs" (vertex pairs meeting for the first time), "formation_fraction" (confirmed binary pair formations divided by their exact two-sided inactive risk set), "dissolution_fraction" (confirmed binary pair dissolutions divided by their exact two-sided active risk set), "formation_rate" (confirmed formations divided by exact integrated inactive eligible pair-time), and "dissolution_rate" (confirmed dissolutions divided by exact integrated active eligible pair-time). Defaults to c("formation", "dissolution"). Anything else raises a dynet_unknown_measure error. The two fractions need window = 0 (dynet_transition_requires_instant otherwise) and the two rates need a positive window (dynet_rate_requires_positive_window), so asking for a fraction and a rate in one call raises dynet_incompatible_transition_windows.
sessions	How to treat sessions: "bounded" (the default), "collapse" or "separate", as in centrality_series().
start, end	First and last time at which to measure. Default to the observed range. A network built from dates may be addressed with dates.
step	How often to measure. Defaults to the interval the network was built with.
window	How much time each measurement covers. Defaults to step, which tiles the period into disjoint bins. A larger value slides an overlapping window; 0 samples the network at each point in time. "all" measures the whole observed period as one window, closed on the right so an event at the final instant is inside it; naming step as well raises a dynet_bad_input error, and under sessions = "separate" or discontinuous observation it gives one window per session or observed component.
plot	Whether to draw the result as well as return it. Drawing is a side effect in the manner of graphics::hist(): the verb still returns its tidy table, invisibly when it has drawn, so plot = TRUE saves the wrapping plot() call without changing what comes back. Use plot() on the result when the figure needs arguments of its own.

Details

Formation and dissolution are counted inside each window, so overlapping windows (window > step) count the same event more than once by design – that is what a rolling total is. Setting window equal to step, the default, gives disjoint counts that sum to the total turnover. Explicitly onset-censored raw limits are not formations, and explicitly terminus-censored limits are not dissolutions. A left-censored observed tie is prior evidence for new_pairs; raw censor state never changes activity.

Formation fraction is defined only with window = 0. For a positive half-open interval ⁠[s,e)⁠, its pre-batch state at t is ⁠s < t <= e⁠ and its post-batch state is ⁠s <= t < e⁠. These predicates are binary-unioned per nonloop ordered pair or undirected dyad after the entire timestamp batch. Points are absent on both sides. A pair enters risk only when observation and both endpoints are eligible immediately before and after t and the pair is inactive before. A formation is confirmed when it is active after and at least one contributing positive raw spell has a known onset at t. The ratio is in ⁠[0,1]⁠; zero risk returns NA.

Duplicate, overlapping, or adjacent raw spells cannot multiply pair-state transitions. Observation and vertex boundaries are excluded by two-sided eligibility. Onset censoring suppresses confirmation but not state; terminus censoring, weights, loops, and point contacts do not contribute. Collapse erases labels, bounded authorises within sessions before unioning each calendar pair, and separate returns session-local fractions.

Dissolution fraction is the dual exact-time quantity. For each nonloop pair, let ⁠E-⁠ and ⁠E+⁠ be binary-union state on the symbolic one-sided limits and let L mean at least one positive raw spell ends exactly at the timestamp with a known terminus. The numerator is ⁠Z * E- * (1 - E+) * L⁠, where Z requires two-sided observation and endpoint eligibility; the denominator is ⁠sum(Z * E-)⁠, including pairs that remain active. Zero risk returns NA_real_, while positive risk with no confirmed dissolution returns zero. Censor flags do not change state: one known terminus confirms a disappearance but an all-censored disappearance is unconfirmed. Duplicate, overlapping, adjacent, and tied rows are unioned; points, loops, weights, onset censoring, and administrative observation/activity boundaries do not create transitions. Collapse erases labels, bounded unions authorised session-local states, and separate reports local rows. Positive windows are rejected because "dissolution_rate" owns dissolution rates.

Dissolution rate is the active-risk dual over a positive window. Its numerator sums confirmed binary pair dissolutions at included timestamp batches; its denominator integrates exact eligible active nonloop pair-time over observation, vertex, edge, and window change cells. Right-censored termini retain state and exposure but do not confirm an event, while one known duplicate suffices. Zero active exposure returns NA_real_; positive exposure without a confirmed dissolution is zero. The unit is inverse network time. It is not raw terminus intensity, spell-duration sum, or an average of instantaneous fractions; positive windows are required, and this is the rate "dissolution_rate" reports.

Formation rate is the positive-window counterpart. Its numerator sums the confirmed binary pair formations at each included timestamp, while its denominator integrates exact inactive eligible nonloop pair-time over change-point cells cut by the window, observation components, vertex activity, and edge state. It is not an average of instantaneous fractions, a raw-onset intensity, or an ever-observed-pair quantity. Zero exposure returns NA_real_; positive exposure with no confirmed formation returns zero. The unit is inverse network time and scales inversely with positive time scaling. Points have zero exposure, onset censoring suppresses only confirmation, and gap/boundary, duplicate, overlap, adjacency, loop, weight, and session rules follow the same ledger as "formation_fraction". window = 0 is rejected because that measure owns the instantaneous fractions.

Value

A dynet_metric at graph level, one row per time point and measure.

References

Andersen, P. K., & Gill, R. D. (1982). Cox's regression model for counting processes: a large sample study. Annals of Statistics, 10, 1100-1120. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1214/aos/1176345976")}

Butts, C. T., Leslie-Cook, A., Krivitsky, P. N., & Bender-deMoll, S. (2024). networkDynamic: Dynamic Extensions for Network Objects, version 0.11.5. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.32614/CRAN.package.networkDynamic")}

Examples

dn <- dynet(school_contacts)
events(dn)
turnover <- events(dn, measure = c("formation", "dissolution"))
plot(turnover)
events(dn, measure = "formation_fraction", start = 1, end = 1,
           window = 0)
events(dn, measure = "dissolution_fraction", start = 1, end = 1,
           window = 0)
events(dn, measure = "formation_rate", start = 1, end = 2,
           window = 1)
events(dn, measure = "dissolution_rate", start = 1, end = 2,
           window = 1)

Dynet documentation built on Oct. 7, 2026, 5:08 p.m.