The Relationships Between Middle-Range Topology and Weights on Face-to-Face Communication Networks

Weighted network analysis deals with both the topology of connection and its weights. The primary interest of the analysis is the relationship between topology and weights. For instance, scaling-law between degree and strength have been widely observed. However, the relationship between middle range topology and weights has not been explicitly investigated because conventional analysis was biased toward global or local range topology. In this study, we clarify the relationship between middle range topology and weights in a social network that is a face-to-face communication network in a corporate organization. As results, we found that the specific trend of the relationship appears in the range of two degrees of separation. This indicates the middle ranges of a weighted network have a non-trivial trend that cannot be derived from local or global ranges, and the trend also depends on the number of steps in the middle ranges. In addition, the approach of this study is expected to be useful for detecting features unique to the middle ranges of weighted social networks.