This volume gives an interdisciplinary discussion on the topological aspects of general networks and critical systems for physicists, chemists, biologists, mathematicians, medical scientists, social scientists, and other related researchers. Subjects as diverse as the general properties of complex networks, complexity in social science, patterns in biological objects, and criticality in pure and applied physics are represented. The book is essential for researchers in a wide range of scientific and technological fields related to these areas.

Contents:

• General Properties of Networks:
• Physics of Network Security (Y-C Lai et al.)
• Multi-State Interacting Particle Systems on Scale-Free Networks (N Masuda & N Konno)
• Homotopy Reduction of Complex Networks (Y Hiraoka & T Ichinomiya)
• Complexity in Social Science:
• Innovation and Development in a Random Lattice (J Lahtinen)
• Long-Tailed Distributions in Biological Systems: Revisit to Lognormals (N Kobayashi et al.)
• Power Law Distributions in Two Community Currencies (N Kichiji & M Nishibe)
• Patterns in Biological Objects:
• Collective Movement and Morphogenesis of Epithelial Cells (H Haga & K Kawabata)
• Indecisive Behavior of Amoeba Crossing an Environmental Barrier (S Takagi et al.)
• Topological Analysis of Placental Arteries: Correlation with Neonatal Growth (H Yamada & K Yakubo)
• Criticality in Pure and Applied Physics:
• Droplets in Disordered Metallic Quantum Critical Systems (A H Castro Neto & B A Jones)
• Importance of Static Disorder and Inhomogeneous Cooperative Dynamics in Heavy-Fermion Metals (O O Bernal)
• Competition between Spin Glass and Antiferromagnetic Phases in Heavy Fermion Materials (S Süllow)
• and other papers