Complex Agent Networks explaining the HIV epidemic among homosexual men in Amsterdam
Abstract
Simulating the evolution of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic requires a detailed description of the population network, especially for small populations in which individuals can be represented in detail and accuracy. In this paper, we introduce the concept of a Complex Agent Network(CAN) to model the HIV epidemics by combining agent-based modelling and complex networks, in which agents represent individuals that have sexual interactions. The applicability of CANs is demonstrated by constructing and executing a detailed HIV epidemic model for men who have sex with men (MSM) in Amsterdam, including a distinction between steady and casual relationships. We focus on MSM contacts because they play an important role in HIV epidemics and have been tracked in Amsterdam for a long time. Our experiments show good correspondence between the historical data of the Amsterdam cohort and the simulation results.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0812.1155,
title = {Complex Agent Networks explaining the HIV epidemic among homosexual men in Amsterdam},
author = {Shan Mei and P. M. A Sloot and Rick Quax and Yifan Zhu and Weiping Wang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0812.1155},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
21 pages, 4 figures, Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, added references