Gregory R. Madey - Böcker

Presents an overview of the complex biological systems used within a global public health setting and features a focus on malaria analysisBridging the gap between agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) and geographic information systems (GIS), Spatial Agent-Based Simulation Modeling in Public Health: Design, Implementation, and Applications for Malaria Epidemiology provides a useful introduction to the development of agent-based models (ABMs) by following a conceptual and biological core model of Anopheles gambiae for malaria epidemiology. Using spatial ABMs, the book includes mosquito (vector) control interventions and GIS as two example applications of ABMs, as well as a brief description of epidemiology modeling. In addition, the authors discuss how to most effectively integrate spatial ABMs with a GIS. The book concludes with a combination of knowledge from entomological, epidemiological, simulation-based, and geo-spatial domains in order to identify and analyze relationships between various transmission variables of the disease.Spatial Agent-Based Simulation Modeling in Public Health: Design, Implementation, and Applications for Malaria Epidemiology also features: Location-specific mosquito abundance maps that play an important role in malaria control activities by guiding future resource allocation for malaria control and identifying hotspots for further investigationDiscussions on the best modeling practices in an effort to achieve improved efficacy, cost-effectiveness, ecological soundness, and sustainability of vector control for malariaAn overview of the various ABMs, GIS, and spatial statistical methods used in entomological and epidemiological studies, as well as the model malaria studyA companion website with computer source code and flowcharts of the spatial ABM and a landscape generator tool that can simulate landscapes with varying spatial heterogeneity of different types of resources including aquatic habitats and housesSpatial Agent-Based Simulation Modeling in Public Health: Design, Implementation, and Applications for Malaria Epidemiology is an excellent reference for professionals such as modeling and simulation experts, GIS experts, spatial analysts, mathematicians, statisticians, epidemiologists, health policy makers, as well as researchers and scientists who use, manage, or analyze infectious disease data and/or infectious disease-related projects. The book is also ideal for graduate-level courses in modeling and simulation, bioinformatics, biostatistics, public health and policy, and epidemiology.

Welcome to the 6th International Conference on Open Source Systems of the IFIP Working Group 2. 13. This year was the ?rst time this international conf- ence was held in North America. We had a large number of high-quality papers, highlyrelevantpanelsandworkshops,acontinuationofthepopulardoctoralc- sortium, and multiple distinguished invited speakers. The success of OSS 2010 was only possible because an Organizing Committee, a Program Committee, Workshop and Doctoral Committees, and authors of research manuscripts from over 25 countries contributed their time and interest to OSS 2010. In the spirit of the communities we study, you self-organized, volunteered, and contributed to this important research forum studying free, libre, open source software and systems. We thank you! Despite our modest success, we have room to improve and grow our conf- ence and community. At OSS 2010 we saw little or no participation from large portions of the world, including Latin America, Africa, China, and India. But opportunitiestoexpandarepossible.InJapan,weseeahotspotofparticipation led by Tetsuo Noda and his colleagues, both with full-paper submissions and a workshopon"OpenSourcePolicyandPromotionofITIndustries inEastAsia. " The location of OSS 2011 in Salvador, Brazil, will hopefully result in signi?cant participation from researchers in Brazil - already a strong user of OSS - and otherSouthAmericancountries. UndertheleadershipofMeganSquire,Publicity Chair, we recruited RegionalPublicity Co-chairscovering Japan (Tetsuo Noda), Africa(SulaymanSowe),the MiddleEastandSouthAsia(FaheenAhmed),R- sia and Eastern Europe (Alexey Khoroshilov), Western Europe (Yeliz Eseryel), UK and Ireland (Andrea Capiluppi), and the Nordic countries (Bj. orn Lundell).