Abstract: In this research, we calculate epidemic thresholds and investigate the dynamics of a disease in a networked metapopulation. We utilize the SIR-Network model to study the specific role of mobility levels and consider a range of network structures. For star-shaped networks where all nodes only connect to a center, we obtain the same epidemic threshold formulas as previously found for fully connected networks, considering all nodes with the same infection rate except one. We thus create a new terminology by saying that fully connected and star-shaped networks have the Standard Threshold Property. Next, we analyze cycle-shaped networks that yield different epidemic thresholds than star-shaped ones. We then analyze more general classes of networks by combining the star, cycle, and other structures, obtaining classes of networks with the Standard Threshold Property. We present some conjectures on even more flexible networks and complete our analysis by presenting simulations to explore the epidemic dynamics for the different structures. Using this metapopulation model, we also examine the specific role of human mobility data in which human movement affects the dynamics of a disease in a networked metapopulation. We also investigate how human movement between neighborhoods can control or promote the outbreaks of infectious diseases in the networks.
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