Category: Epidemiology

Summary: Testing whether intermediate commuter-memory can lower epidemic burden when baseline immunity is spatially patchy.

Mobility patterns and immunity landscapes both shape epidemic spread, but they are often varied separately. This experiment asks whether recurrent commuting with memory interacts with mesoscale immunity patches in a nonmonotone way, so that intermediate memory reduces attack rates more effectively than either random mobility or nearly frozen travel patterns.

The model simulates a grid-based SIRS epidemic with commuter coupling, waning immunity, and adjustable spatial smoothing of baseline immunity. It compares multiple memory levels and immunity-correlation scales to test whether the protective effect depends on organized heterogeneity rather than appearing in all landscapes.

That makes the project a resonance-style interaction study. The goal is to identify whether mobility memory and immunity structure create a distinct middle regime with reduced transmission.

Method: Grid-based stochastic SIRS simulations with commuter-memory, waning immunity, and tunable spatial immunity correlation.

What is measured: Attack rate, dependence on commuter-memory strength, immunity-correlation effects, coupling sensitivity, and evidence for an intermediate optimum.