30,292 research outputs found
Modelling workplace contact networks: the effects of organizational structure, architecture, and reporting errors on epidemic predictions
Face-to-face social contacts are potentially important transmission routes
for acute respiratory infections, and understanding the contact network can
improve our ability to predict, contain, and control epidemics. Although
workplaces are important settings for infectious disease transmission, few
studies have collected workplace contact data and estimated workplace contact
networks. We use contact diaries, architectural distance measures, and
institutional structures to estimate social contact networks within a Swiss
research institute. Some contact reports were inconsistent, indicating
reporting errors. We adjust for this with a latent variable model, jointly
estimating the true (unobserved) network of contacts and duration-specific
reporting probabilities. We find that contact probability decreases with
distance, and research group membership, role, and shared projects are strongly
predictive of contact patterns. Estimated reporting probabilities were low only
for 0-5 minute contacts. Adjusting for reporting error changed the estimate of
the duration distribution, but did not change the estimates of covariate
effects and had little effect on epidemic predictions. Our epidemic simulation
study indicates that inclusion of network structure based on architectural and
organizational structure data can improve the accuracy of epidemic forecasting
models.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figure
Predicting the extinction of Ebola spreading in Liberia due to mitigation strategies
The Ebola virus is spreading throughout West Africa and is causing thousands of deaths. In order to quantify the effectiveness of different strategies for controlling the spread, we develop a mathematical model in which the propagation of the Ebola virus through Liberia is caused by travel between counties. For the initial months in which the Ebola virus spreads, we find that the arrival times of the disease into the counties predicted by our model are compatible with World Health Organization data, but we also find that reducing mobility is insufficient to contain the epidemic because it delays the arrival of Ebola virus in each county by only a few weeks. We study the effect of a strategy in which safe burials are increased and effective hospitalisation instituted under two scenarios: (i) one implemented in mid-July 2014 and (ii) one in mid-August—which was the actual time that strong interventions began in Liberia. We find that if scenario (i) had been pursued the lifetime of the epidemic would have been three months shorter and the total number of infected individuals 80% less than in scenario (ii). Our projection under scenario (ii) is that the spreading will stop by mid-spring 2015.H.E.S. thanks the NSF (grants CMMI 1125290 and CHE-1213217) and the Keck Foundation for financial support. L.D.V. and L.A.B. wish to thank to UNMdP and FONCyT (Pict 0429/2013) for financial support. (CMMI 1125290 - NSF; CHE-1213217 - NSF; Keck Foundation; UNMdP; Pict 0429/2013 - FONCyT)Published versio
A General Framework for Complex Network Applications
Complex network theory has been applied to solving practical problems from
different domains. In this paper, we present a general framework for complex
network applications. The keys of a successful application are a thorough
understanding of the real system and a correct mapping of complex network
theory to practical problems in the system. Despite of certain limitations
discussed in this paper, complex network theory provides a foundation on which
to develop powerful tools in analyzing and optimizing large interconnected
systems.Comment: 8 page
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