Geography Commons^™

Network Meta-Metrics: Using Evolutionary Computation To Identify Effective Indicators Of Epidemiological Vulnerability In A Livestock Production System Model, Serge Wiltshire, Asim Zia, Christopher Koliba, Gabriela Buccini, Eric Clark, Scott Merrill, Julie Smith, Susan Moegenburg

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

We developed an agent-based susceptible / infective model which simulates disease incursions in the hog production chain networks of three U.S. states. Agent parameters, contact network data, and epidemiological spread patterns are output after each model run. Key network metrics are then calculated, some of which pertain to overall network structure, and others to each node’s positionality within the network. We run statistical tests to evaluate the extent to which each network metric predicts epidemiological vulnerability, finding significant correlations in some cases, but no individual metric that serves as a reliable risk indicator. To investigate the complex interactions between network …