(Asia) Mosquito Density Model [message #670236] |
Fri, 13 May 2011 07:50 |
Matthias Filter Messages: 75 Registered: July 2009 |
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Hi,
I was testing the (Asia) Mosquito Density Model and was wondering a bit, what actually happens mathematically in the model. Unfortunately I was not able to locate those information in the wiki and also in the model I did not find those answers.
As far as I understood there are actually only two anopheles specific items in the model:
the "anopheles.standard" population model and the "AnophelesInitializer.standard" initializer. How are now the earthscience data integrated into the model calculation? Is this a compartment disease model at all?
From the wiki entry on "available models" there is only the following text:
Mosquito Population Model
The mosquito population model in STEM uses environmental earth science data (available in the STEM library) to estimate the average mosquito population for a region. The model has been calibrated from a study done in Thailand where the field measurements were taken on the number of bites per person in a day. First, the model takes into account factors such as rainfall, vegetation, temperature as well as elevation when estimating the potential number of mosquitos per (human) host. Next, actual estimates for mosquito population is calculated by multiplying by the number of humans available in the region. If no data on the host is available, a scaling factor of 1 is used (hence the reported number is the potential number of mosquitos/host). By default, the model assumes that female mosquitos exclusively take blood-meals from humans. However, the host does not have to be human, it can be changed to say birds, monkeys or lizards if such population data is available. It is possible to scale the mosquito population using any desirable scaling factor. More background information on how the model was calibrated can be found in the 2009 doctoral dissertation by Arisara Charoenpanyanet, entitled "Anopheles Mosquito Density Predictive Model Based on Remotely Sensed Data," done at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.
In my understanding the STEM model description should contain all information that a user need to reproduce what is calculated without the need to look up a text book or a PhD thesis. What do you think?
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