eprintid: 1326
rev_number: 9
eprint_status: archive
userid: 6
dir: disk0/00/00/13/26
datestamp: 2012-07-26 07:51:58
lastmod: 2014-07-28 09:35:47
status_changed: 2012-07-26 07:51:58
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Di Clemente, Riccardo
creators_name: Pietronero, Luciano
creators_id: riccardo.diclemente@alumni.imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
title: Statistical agent based modelization of the phenomenon of drug abuse
ispublished: pub
subjects: HA
subjects: QC
subjects: QH301
divisions: EIC
full_text_status: none
keywords: Biological Models; Applied physics; Modelling and theory;   Statistical physics, thermodynamics and nonlinear dynamics
abstract: We introduce a statistical agent based model to describe the phenomenon of drug abuse and its dynamical evolution at the individual and global level. The agents are heterogeneous with respect to their intrinsic inclination to drugs, to their budget attitude and social environment. The various levels of drug use were inspired by the professional description of the phenomenon and this permits a direct comparison with all available data. We show that certain elements have a great importance to start the use of drugs, for example the rare events in the personal experiences which permit to overcame the barrier of drug use occasionally. The analysis of how the system reacts to perturbations is very important to understand its key elements and it provides strategies for effective policy making. The present model represents the first step of a realistic description of this phenomenon and can be easily generalized in various directions.
date: 2012-07-25
date_type: published
publication: (Nature) Scientific Reports
publisher: Nature Publishing Group
pagerange: 1-8
id_number: 10.1038/srep00532
refereed: TRUE
issn: 2045-2322
official_url: http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120725/srep00532/full/srep00532.html
citation:   Di Clemente, Riccardo and Pietronero, Luciano  Statistical agent based modelization of the phenomenon of drug abuse.  (Nature) Scientific Reports.  pp. 1-8.  ISSN 2045-2322      (2012)