Um framework conceitual de modelagem e simulação: estudo de caso na reengenharia da ferramenta dengueme

Abstract

Arboviral diseases such as dengue, zika, chikungunya and others constitute a public health problem in Brazil and abroad, as dengue, for instance, is endemic in every continent except Antarctica. The increased popularity of computing and the advancement of related technologies brings benefits to several fields of study, in various aspects. Computational modeling and simulation is a computer science tool that can provide positive impact on decision problems, for preventing and predicting disease spread. In this context, this work aims to present a framework for the creation of modeling and simulation tools directed at arboviral diseases. The framework is based on existing tools and considers user needs presented in the literature. A survey of existing modeling tools was conducted, listing their strengths and weaknesses, to reach a broad set of features. The framework can be used to create tools from scratch or to refactor existing ones, such as in DengueME, a tool whose architecture was modified to fit the proposed framework. Case studies are presented, involving examples for different types of users, to show the framework’s potential for developing new tools. This work demonstrated that it is possible to implement such tools, and shows various complementary functions enabled by it.