Spatial phenomena are subject to scale effects, but there are rarely studiesaddressing such effects on spatially embedded contact networks. There are twotypes of structure in these networks, network structure and spatial structure.The network structure has been actively studied. The spatial structure of thesenetworks has received attention only in recent years. Certainly little is knownwhether the two structures respond to each other. This study examines the scaleeffects, in terms of spatial extent, on the network structure and the spatialstructure of spatially embedded contact networks. Two issues are explored, howthe two types of structures change in response to scale changes, and the rangeof the scale effects. Two sets of areal units, regular grids with 24 differentlevels of spatial extent and census units of three levels of spatial extent,are used to divide one observed and two reference random networks into multiplescales. Six metrics are used to represent the two structures. Results showdifferent scale effects. In terms of the network structure, the properties ofthe observed network are sensitive to scale changes at fine scales. Incomparison, the clustered spatial structure of the network is scaleindependent. The behaviors of the network structure are affected by the spatialstructure. This information helps identify vulnerable households andcommunities to health risks and helps deploy intervention strategies tospatially targeted areas.
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