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. 2008 Nov 6:2008:854-8.

Template-driven spatial-temporal outbreak simulation for outbreak detection evaluation

Min Zhang  1 , Garrick L Wallstrom
Affiliations

Template-driven spatial-temporal outbreak simulation for outbreak detection evaluation

Min Zhang et al. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. .

Abstract

We developed a non-disease specific template-driven spatial-temporal outbreak simulator for evaluating outbreak detection algorithms. With only a few outbreak parameter settings, our simulator can generate different patterns of outbreak cases either temporally or spatial-temporally using three different generation algorithms: deterministic, independent, Poisson process. Our simulator is flexible, easy to implement and provides case event times rather than aggregated counts. We provide examples of outbreak simulations using linear template functions. Our Template-Driven Simulator is a useful tool for evaluating of outbreak detection algorithms.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Simulated visit times using a linear template function. Hourly-aggregated visit times are created using deterministic (a), independent (b), and Poisson process (c) generation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A lighter color indicates a smaller outbreak intensity in that area, while a darker color indicates a heavier outbreak intensity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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