Re: model for infectious disease

[Paul Johnson]

Dear Roy:

I've been interested to have a Swarm model of that sort. We have many 
working examples that could serve as a starting point. If you can tell 
me more about what you need, and whether you are willing to pay me for 
it, then I could probably do it. We have made an organizational decision 
here not to purchase Windows XP, so I couldn't do any testing for you on 
that platform.

I feel certain that there are biochemists and ecologists who have done 
models almost exactly like you need.  But I don't know that they are 
publicly available.

I might have an interest in working this up, just for my own 
entertainment.  I need details about the model you want in order to 
better understand.

1. Are agents on a rectangular grid?  (How are the agents placed in there?)

2. What are their rules for movement?

3. Can 2 agents go onto the same cell at the same time?

4. Does the infection eminate in all directions and does it "linger" on 
the environment as other agents walk by?  Or is it more like "I see you, 
tag, your are infected!"

5. If an individual is within the "blast radius" of an infected person,
how much detail can you supply for a model of their infection probability?

Maybe you should run the Swarm heatbugs model and tell me how your need 
differs from that. The HelloWOrld model has agents wandering in a 
square, meeting each other, accumulating friends. It would be a pretty 
small step from there to have an infection model.

I have a winNT-4.0 system and if it can run your example, I could see 
what this is all about by running your demo.


Roy G. Schriftman wrote:
> Hello,
>  >
>  >i have been asked to replace an antique program (1993) which simulates 
> the spread of a disease thru a population with various parameters such 
> as infection rate, death rate from the disease, amount of travel in the 
> population, etc.
>  >
>  >i can send you a copy of the exe file for the demo of this program or 
> the actual program.  the actual program needs a DOS mouse driver and 
> since we have converted our classrooms to windows 2000 the software no 
> longer functions.
>  >
>  >i saw swarm.org and thought that someone in your group has already 
> created such a program that would be satisfactory to use in a group of 
> undergrad micro-biology students
>  >
>  >i eagerly await you reply



--
Paul E. Johnson                       email: address@hidden
Dept. of Political Science            http://lark.cc.ku.edu/~pauljohn
University of Kansas                  Office: (785) 864-9086
Lawrence, Kansas 66045                FAX: (785) 864-5700



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