Differentiable Agent-based Epidemiology. (arXiv:2207.09714v1 [cs.LG])

Mechanistic simulators are an indispensable tool for epidemiology to explore
the behavior of complex, dynamic infections under varying conditions and
navigate uncertain environments. ODE-based models are the dominant paradigm
that enable fast simulations and are tractable to gradient-based optimization,
but make simplifying assumptions about population homogeneity. Agent-based
models (ABMs) are an increasingly popular alternative paradigm that can
represent the heterogeneity of contact interactions with granular detail and
agency of individual behavior. However, conventional ABM frameworks are not
differentiable and present …

arxiv epidemiology lg