A heuristic for analyzing interactions between protectors and street animals

• Marcus Vinício de Oliveira Braga UNIFESP
• Lilian Berton UNIFESP

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/eniac.2025.11782

Abstract

This work proposes the construction of a cooperation network among animal welfare advocates and establishments involved in animal protection efforts. The network was modeled as a multi-layered architecture, considering interactions between individuals, establishments, and the animals assisted. The goal is to investigate the presence of communities and identify the most influential advocates in the provision of aid, using metrics such as modularity and degree centrality through the Louvain algorithm. Identifying these patterns aims to optimize the logistics and efficiency of support interactions, as well as to provide insights for planning preventive actions in public policies related to animal protection.

References

Bankar, S., Bhagwat, H., Karande, A., Sargar, P., and Dabhade, S. A. (2024). Enhanced stray animal care using machine learning. International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering, Technology and Science, 6(2):102–105. e-ISSN 2582-5208.

Blondel, V., Guillaume, J.-L., Lambiotte, R., and Lefebvre, E. (2008). Fast unfolding of communities in large networks. Journal of Statistical Mechanics, page P10008.

Brask, J. B., Ellis, S., and Croft, D. P. (2021). Animal social networks: an introduction for complex systems scientists. Journal of Complex Networks, 9(2):cnab001.

Chaudhary, L. and Singh, B. (2019). Community detection using an enhanced louvain method in complex networks. In 15th International Conference on Distributed Computing and Internet Technology (ICDCIT), volume 11319 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 243–250. Springer.

Finn, K. R., Silk, M. J., Porter, M. A., and Pinter-Wollman, N. (2019). The use of multi-layer network analysis in animal behaviour. Animal behaviour, 149:7–22.

Girvan, M. and Newman, M. (2002). Community structure in social and biological networks. Proc. National Academy of Sciences, 99:7821–7826.

Horecka, K. and Neal, S. (2022). Critical problems for research in animal sheltering, a conceptual analysis. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 9:804154.

Instituto Pet Brasil (2018). Inteligência de Mercado: Um Olhar Sobre o Setor Pet no Brasil.

Karimi, F., Lotfi, S., and Izadkhah, H. (2020). Multiplex community detection in complex networks using an evolutionary approach. Expert Systems with Applications, 146:113184.

Kinsley, A. C., Rossi, G., Silk, M. J., and VanderWaal, K. (2020). Multilayer and multiplex networks: An introduction to their use in veterinary epidemiology. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 7:596.

Louwers, J. (2022). Calculate geographic distances in python with the haversine method. Medium.

Neethirajan, S. and Kemp, B. (2021). Social network analysis in farm animals: Sensor-based approaches. Animals, 11(2):434.

Newman, M., Barabási, A.-L., and Watts, D. J. (2011). The structure and dynamics of networks. Princeton university press.

Oliveira, E. T., Nascimento, M. L., Silva, R. F., and Costa, L. A. (2008). A questão dos animais abandonados e o papel do médico veterinário. Revista Brasileira de Higiene e Sanidade Animal, 2(1):56–79.

Wang, C., Wang, F., and Onega, T. (2021). Network optimization approach to delin-eating health care service areas: Spatially constrained louvain and leiden algorithms. Transactions in GIS, 25(2):1065–1081. PMCID: PMC8140423.

Zhang, J., Fei, J., Song, X., and Feng, J. (2021). An improved louvain algorithm for community detection. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2021:1–14.