Related papers: Preferential imitation of vaccinating behavior can…
In this work we propose and investigate a new strategy of vaccination, which we call "dynamic vaccination". In our model, susceptible people become aware that one or more of their contacts are infected, and thereby get vaccinated with…
We investigate cascades in networks consisting of strategic agents with interdependent security. We assume that the strategic agents have choices between i) investing in protecting themselves, ii) purchasing insurance to transfer (some)…
We investigate the containment of epidemic spreading in networks from a normative point of view. We consider a susceptible/infected model in which agents can invest in order to reduce the contagiousness of network links. In this setting, we…
This study develops an economic model for a social planner who prioritizes health over short-term wealth accumulation during a pandemic. Agents are connected through a weighted undirected network of contacts, and the planner's objective is…
Influence maximization serves as the main goal of a variety of social network activities such as viral marketing and campaign advertising. The independent cascade model for the influence spread assumes a one-time chance for each activated…
In the wake of epidemics, quarantine measures are typically recommended by health authorities or governments to help control the spread of the disease. Compared with mandatory quarantine, voluntary quarantine offers individuals the liberty…
Machine learning is increasingly used to select which individuals receive limited-resource interventions in domains such as human services, education, development, and more. However, it is often not apparent what the right quantity is for…
Epidemiological models increasingly rely on self-reported behavioral data such as vaccination status, mask usage, and social distancing adherence to forecast disease transmission and assess the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions…
We consider the fractional influence maximization problem, i.e., identifying users on a social network to be incentivized with potentially partial discounts to maximize the influence on the network. The larger the discount given to a user,…
The application of incentives, such as reward and punishment, is a frequently applied way for promoting cooperation among interacting individuals in structured populations. However, how to properly use the incentives is still a challenging…
The contact structure of a population plays an important role in transmission of infection. Many ``structured models'' capture aspects of the contact structure through an underlying network or a mixing matrix. An important observation in…
We investigate how homophily in adherence to anti-epidemic measures affects the final size of epidemics in social networks. Using a modified SIR model, we divide agents into two behavioral groups-compliant and non-compliant-and introduce…
It is critical to understand and model the behavior of individuals in a pandemic, as well as identify effective ways to guide people's behavior in order to better control the epidemic spread. However, current research fails to account for…
The aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic saw more severe outcomes for racial minority groups and economically-deprived communities. Such disparities can be explained by several factors, including unequal access to healthcare, as well as the…
Influence maximization in networks is a central problem in machine learning and causal inference, where an intervention on a subset of individuals triggers a diffusion process through the network. Existing approaches typically optimize…
Humans have developed considerable machinery used at scale to create policies and to distribute incentives, yet we are forever seeking ways in which to improve upon these, our institutions. Especially when funding is limited, it is…
Understanding how the network topology affects the spread of an epidemic is a main concern in order to develop efficient immunization strategies. While there is a great deal of work dealing with the macroscopic topological properties of the…
Whenever possible, the efficacy of a new treatment, such as a drug or behavioral intervention, is investigated by randomly assigning some individuals to a treatment condition and others to a control condition, and comparing the outcomes…
Resource support between individuals is of particular importance in controlling or mitigating epidemic spreading, especially during pandemics. Whereas there remains the question of how we can protect ourselves from being infected while…
Large-scale hazards affect societies not only through direct physical impacts but also through emotions that spread across populations. Fueled by social amplification and networked communication, collective emotions often diverge markedly…