Tiago França Melo de Lima

Playing against dengue design and development of a serious game to help tackling dengue

Dengue is a global public health challenge. The dengue virus is transmitted mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also a vector of other diseases such as zika, chikungunya and urban yellow fever. Its transmission dynamics is complex, involving several actors, factors and processes. Acting against vectors is still an important strategy, mainly due to limitations in efficacy and accessibility of vaccines. We believe that including and awareness of population is an important factor to address the problem. This project aims to design and develop a serious game to support actions and strategies based on prevention and epidemiological surveillance. In order to raise awareness about vector ecology and disease transmission dynamics, the game design presents information and seeks to encourage behavior changes in a playful environment. Moreover, gamification strategies are being used to stimulate concrete actions in real world. A mix of 2D-based game, augmented reality, virtual reality and the real world itself, will provide the proper environment to offer fun with the purpose of helping to deal with this complex problem. This paper presents the game design and current development stage. The artifacts are being developed in an iterative and incremental way, involving activities of conception, design, construction/prototyping and evaluation. Results include the game design, prototypes and the release of a demo version.

DengueME: A Tool for the Modeling and Simulation of Dengue Spatiotemporal Dynamics

The prevention and control of dengue are great public health challenges for many countries, particularly since 2015, as other arboviruses have been observed to interact significantly with dengue virus. Different approaches and methodologies have been proposed and discussed by the research community. An important tool widely used is modeling and simulation, which help us to understand epidemic dynamics and create scenarios to support planning and decision making processes. With this aim, we proposed and developed DengueME, a collaborative open source platform to simulate dengue disease and its vector’s dynamics. It supports compartmental and individual-based models, implemented over a GIS database, that represent Aedes aegypti population dynamics, human demography, human mobility, urban landscape and dengue transmission mediated by human and mosquito encounters. A user-friendly graphical interface was developed to facilitate model configuration and data input, and a library of models was developed to support teaching-learning activities. DengueME was applied in study cases and evaluated by specialists. Other improvements will be made in future work, to enhance its extensibility and usability.

A framework for modeling and simulating aedes aegypti and dengue fever dynamics

Dengue fever represents a great challenge for many countries, and methodologies to prevent and/or control its transmission have been largely discussed by the research community. Modeling is a powerful tool to understand epidemic dynamics and to evaluate costs, benefits and effectiveness of control strategies. In order to assist decision-makers and researchers in the evaluation of different methodologies, we developed DengueME, a collaborative open source platform to simulate dengue disease and its vectors dynamics. DengueME provides a series of compartmental and individual-based models, implemented over a GIS database, that represents the Aedes aegyptis life cycle, human demography, human mobility, urban landscape and dengue transmission. The platform is designed to allow easy simulation of intervention scenarios. A GUI was developed to facilitate model configuration and data input.

TerraME GIMS: An Eclipse plug-in for environmental modeling

TerraME is a platform for modeling and simulation of environmental systems that offers a conceptual basis and services to build environmental models through a high-level programming language called Terra Modeling Language. However, the use of a programming language is still a limiting factor since its main users are researchers with different backgrounds who usually lack basic knowledge of algorithms and programming techniques. So, this work presents the development of TerraME GIMS, an Eclipse plug-in for environmental systems modeling through visual metaphors that graphically represent the model.

Development of a didactic model of the hydrologic cycle using the TerraME graphical interface for modeling and simulation

Many modeling and simulation platforms provide general programming languages as interfaces for model construction. Some offers high-level modeling languages with conceptual basis and services to represent data structures and rules that will determine the model behavior. However, the direct use of a computational language is still a limiting factor to the broad usage of these platforms. Modelers often have different scientific backgrounds, presenting a lack of background on algorithms and programming techniques. Furthermore, there is no established methodology for model development. These problems confuse the modelers forcing them to deviate their attention from the problem being solved. We argue that a visual integrated development environment (IDE) can solve these problems, making easy the understanding and communication of the model conception and design. An IDE can also enforce the use of a common model development methodology. In this paper we describe a methodology for modeling Earth system phenomena using the TerraME GIMS tool, which is a visual IDE for the TerraME modeling and simulation platform. It enables users to build environmental models through visual metaphors that graphically describe models structure. We demonstrate the use of TerraME GIMS and present our methodology for the development of a didactic model for the hydrologic cycle. Future works include the development of diagrams to better describe the model behavior, including agent synchronization and communication.

Assessment of a trap based Aedes aegypti surveillance program using mathematical modeling

The goal of this study was to assess the goodness-of-fit of theoretical models of population dynamics of Aedes aegypti to trap data collected by a long term entomological surveillance program. The carrying capacity K of this vector was estimated at city and neighborhood level. Adult mosquito abundance was measured via adults collected weekly by a network of sticky traps (Mosquitraps) from January 2008 to December 2011 in Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil. K was the only free parameter estimated by the model. At the city level, the model with temperature as a driver captured the seasonal pattern of mosquito abundance. At the local level, we observed a spatial heterogeneity in the estimated carrying capacity between neighborhoods, weakly associated with environmental variables related to poor infrastructure. Model goodness-of-fit was influenced by the number of sticky traps, and suggests a minimum of 16 traps at the neighborhood level for surveillance.

Design of a Mixed-Reality Serious Game to Tackle a Public Health Problem.

Despite the emergence of several game-based initiatives in health, aiming to train students and professionals and to support patients rehabilitation, some public health problems remains neglected. Mosquito-borne diseases are a global public health concern. Education and awareness of population are an important intervention strategy and should be part of public health policies, given that individuals behavior may affect the transmission dynamics of diseases. For instance, improper storage of water can become a breeding site for the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the vector of dengue, zika, chikungunya and urban yellow fever viruses. Most of Aedes foci are in or near people’s homes and the control of mosquitoes population is essential to prevent these diseases. We believe that games are a powerful tool and can be used to support awareness and behavioral changes regarding public health issues. This paper presents the current development stage of a serious game designed to support actions based on education and engagement of population aimed at vector surveillance and control. A mix of a 2D game with augmented and virtual reality modules and the real world itself will provide the proper environment to offer fun with the purpose of helping to deal with this complex problem. The development is based on agile principles, with short cycles involving activities of conception, design, construction and evaluation. Some partial results are game design, prototypes and demos. Future work includes designing and conducting an experimental study to evaluate effectiveness and efficiency regarding knowledge acquiring and behavioral changes.

The introduction of dengue follows transportation infrastructure changes in the state of Acre, Brazil: A network-based analysis

Human mobility, presence and passive transportation of Aedes aegypti mosquito, and environmental characteristics are a group of factors which contribute to the success of dengue spread and establishment. To understand this process, we assess data from dengue national and municipal basins regarding population and demographics, transportation network, human mobility, and Ae. aegypti monitoring for the Brazilian state of Acre since the first recorded dengue case in the year 2000 to the year 2015. During this period, several changes in Acre’s transport infrastructure and urbanization have been started. To reconstruct the process of dengue introduction in Acre, we propose an analytic framework based on concepts used in malaria literature, namely vulnerability and receptivity, to inform risk assessments in dengue-free regions as well as network theory concepts for disease invasion and propagation. We calculate the probability of dengue importation to Acre from other Brazilian states, the evolution of dengue spread between Acrean municipalities and dengue establishment in the state. Our findings suggest that the landscape changes associated with human mobility have created favorable conditions for the establishment of dengue virus transmission in Acre. The revitalization of its major roads, as well as the increased accessibility by air to and within the state, have increased dengue vulnerability. Unplanned urbanization and population growth, as observed in Acre during the period of study, contribute to ideal conditions for Ae. aegypti mosquito establishment, increase the difficulty in mosquito control and consequently its local receptivity.