CAREER: Dynamics of Hierarchical Household-Structured Epidemiological Models

将使用数学和计算模型来研究按等级划分为称为“住户”的群体的人口。 这些家庭可能代表农田中的补丁，景观中的田地，学校中的宿舍，城市中的学校，区域中的城市，甚至是大型计算机网络中的子网。 将在这一框架内探讨人口模型和流行病学模型，以补充其他具有格子结构人口的工作。 在这些模型中，家庭内部的互动比不同家庭之间的互动频繁得多。 这些模型的主要目标是更好地了解空间目标和/或集群处理如何以及为什么会影响感染动态，例如根据农田中的虫害水平改变对农田的农药施用率。 各种因素，如空间上不同的抗性（长期的，例如由于不同田地中不同作物的镶嵌种植;短期的，例如由于杀虫剂）将被纳入模型。 另一个应用是更好地了解恶意计算机软件（“蠕虫”）在集群异构计算机网络中使用生物传播策略的传播。昆虫学家和其他研究人员将与首席研究员及其学生合作开发该项目的应用，例如控制缅因州商业蓝莓田的蛆蝇，中国稻田的稻飞虱和其他农作物害虫。 关于建模和仿真的跨学科课程将包含项目的各种主题。 本科研究培训将是工作的重要组成部分，包括参加主要针对代表性不足的少数群体的夏季研究计划。 还将包括对高中学生和教师的外联，目前正在学习成为K-12教师的本科生也将参与其中。

Mathematical and computational models will be used to study populations hierarchically segregated into groups referred to as "households". These households may represent patches within an agricultural field, fields within a landscape, dorms within a school, schools within a city, cities within a region, or even subnetworks within larger computer networks. Population models and epidemiological models will be explored within this framework, complementing other work with lattice-structured populations. In the models, interactions within a household occur much more often than interactions between different households. Primary goals of the models are to better understand how and why spatially targeted and/or clustered treatments affect dynamics of infections, for example varying the rates of pesticide application to crop fields based on the levels of insect infestations among those fields. Factors such as spatially varying resistance (both long-term, due to e.g. mosaic planting of different crops in different fields; and short-term, e.g. as a result of pesticides) will be included in the models. Another application will be better understanding the spread of malicious computer software ("worms") using biological dispersal strategies in clustered heterogeneous computer networks.Entomologists and other researchers will cooperate with the principal investigator and his students to develop applications of the project such as controlling maggot flies in commercial blueberry fields in Maine, planthoppers in rice fields in China, and other agricultural crop pests. Interdisciplinary courses on modeling and simulation will incorporate various topics from the project. Undergraduate research training will be a significant part of the work, including participation in a summer research program primarily aimed at underrepresented minority groups. Outreach to high school students and teachers will also be included, with the participation of current undergraduates studying to become K-12 teachers.