PhD defense by Florian Uekermann

Information spreading in epidemics and in communication networks

The PhD thesis revolves mainly around models of disease spreading and human behavior. We present models for different epidemic patterns of infectious diseases. This includes investigations of the trajectory of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West-Africa, influenza evolution and the seasonal dynamics of respiratory viruses. Concerning human behavior we introduce a new model experiment that mimics the interactions and motivations of an interdisciplinary professional environment.