Method and apparatus of machine learning using a network with software agents at the network nodes and then ranking network nodes

A recommender apparatus comprising:

• a memory configured to store a database of a network, the database including a plurality of nodes containing respective data elements, and the plurality of nodes being respectively connected by a plurality of links;
• and
• processing circuitry configured to
• determine a first-order path matrix including values representing first-order adjacencies from the plurality of links that connect the plurality of nodes of the network database,
• generate a surrogate ranking operator (SRO) using a power series of the first-order path matrix,
• receive one or more input data elements representing ranking criteria, and generate an input state vector of the input data elements, and
• rank the nodes of the network using a matrix product of the SRO and the input state vector, and provide the ranked nodes to a user as recommendations corresponding to the one or more input data elements.

A method of recommending nodes of a database by ranking the database, the method comprising:

• storing, in a non-transitory computer readable medium, a database of a network, the database including a plurality of nodes containing respective data elements, and the plurality of nodes being respectively connected by a plurality of links;
• determining, using processing circuitry, a first-order path matrix including values representing first-order adjacencies from the plurality of links that connect the plurality of nodes of the network database;
• generating, using the processing circuitry, a surrogate ranking operator (SRO) using a power series of the first-order path matrix;
• receiving one or more input data elements representing ranking criteria, and generate an input state vector of the input data elements;
• and
• ranking, using the processing circuitry, the nodes of the network using a matrix product of the SRO and the input state vector, and provide the ranked nodes to a user as recommendations corresponding to the one or more input data elements.