Abstract

In mathematical epidemiology, the standard compartmental models assume homogeneous mixing in the host population, in contrast to the disease spread process over a real host contact network. One approach to incorporating heterogeneous mixing is to consider the population to be a network of individuals whose contacts follow a given probability distribution. In this thesis we investigate in analogy both homogeneous mixing and contact network models for infectious diseases that admit latency periods, such as dengue fever, Ebola, and HIV. We consider the mathematics of the compartmental model as well as the network model, including the dynamics of their equations from the beginning of disease outbreak until the disease dies out. After considering the mathematical models we perform software simulations of the disease models. We consider epidemic simulations of the network model for three different values of R0 and compare the peak infection numbers and times as well as disease outbreak sizes and durations. We examine averages of these numbers for one thousand simulation runs for three values of R0. Finally we summarize results and consider avenues for further investigation.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2016

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Shuai, Zhisheng

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Modeling and Simulation

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0006276

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0006276

Language

English

Release Date

August 2016

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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Psychology Commons

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