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MatthewOsborneThesis.pdf (9.78 MB)

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ON THE INTERACTION OF DISEASE AND BEHAVIORAL CONTAGIONS

Osborne, Matthew T.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1596803615987903

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Mathematics.
The interaction between infectious diseases and behavior has been well established and extensively studied. Similar to infectious disease, behavior spread can also be thought of as a contagious process. These two contagious processes can be coupled, meaning that the spreading of one can impact the spread of the other. Broadly, this thesis is concerned with investigating the interaction of behavior and disease as contagious processes through both theoretical and empirical approaches. In our theoretical approach we examine what impact the mechanisms driving behavioral contagion have on coupled behavior-disease dynamics. We first present and analyze a compartmental coupled contagion modeling framework in which behavior can follow either simple or complex contagion dynamics. In the case of simple behavioral contagion we prove the exact dynamics of the system across the entire parameter space. The dynamics of complex behavioral contagion are explored through both analytic and numerical techniques. Simple behavioral contagion is found to support simple dynamics, while complex behavioral contagion supports complex dynamics including bistability and periodic orbits. In order to better understand complex behavioral contagion incidence, we perform extensive simulations of simple and complex contagion over a wide array of networks that encompass both common random network models and empirical digital social networks. A clear interaction between complex contagion and network community structure is demonstrated. When complex contagion spreads over a network with community structure the incidence curve can exhibit multiple extrema and inflection points, features that are absent when there is no community structure. In addition to these theoretical results, we present the outcomes of our randomized control trial, “Catch the Tweet to Fight the Flu”. In this study we recruited 702 undergraduate students and randomly exposed half of them to tweets promoting flu vaccinations over the course of the 2018-2019 flu season. The impact of the intervention is investigated through a series of logistic regression models. Utilizing the Twitter data of our participants, we constructed various digital social networks. We then observed the distribution of vaccinated participants across those networks in order to probe any interactions between network structure and vaccination status.
Joseph Tien (Advisor)
Janet Best (Committee Member)
Grzegorz Rempala (Committee Member)
Rolando Valdes Aguilar (Committee Member)
199 p.
Mathematics
Mathematical Epidemiology; Behavior; Coupled Contagions; Compartmental Models; Network Simulations; Twitter; Flu

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Osborne, M. T. (2020). ON THE INTERACTION OF DISEASE AND BEHAVIORAL CONTAGIONS [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1596803615987903

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Osborne, Matthew. ON THE INTERACTION OF DISEASE AND BEHAVIORAL CONTAGIONS. 2020. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1596803615987903.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Osborne, Matthew. "ON THE INTERACTION OF DISEASE AND BEHAVIORAL CONTAGIONS." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1596803615987903

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1596803615987903
223
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.