Terminal Synergetic Control with the Dragonfly Algorithm for Zoonotic Visceral Leishmaniasis Eradication

Abstract

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a prevalent vector-borne disease that affects both human and animal populations in subtropical and tropical regions, contributing to a substantial mortality rate. Establishing efficient control policies is crucial to eradicating the VL epidemic. The VL epidemic system, containing reservoirs, vectors, and human populations, can be accurately modeled through differential equations. Managing the VL epidemic under multiple control policies can be considered a high-order nonlinear feedback control challenge. This study explores the application of Terminal Synergetic Control (TSC) to eradicate Zoonotic Visceral Leishmaniasis (ZVL). Notably, Synergetic Control (SC) is one of the suitable feedback control methods for manipulating high-order nonlinear systems, providing practical control inputs because of their chattering-free behavior. Additionally, the convergence properties of the control system can be enhanced through terminal attraction. Optimization of control parameters within the system is achieved through the integration of control mechanisms by the Dragonfly Algorithm (DA). The results demonstrate that the multiple control policies synthesized by the TSC method effectively regulate subpopulations in alignment with the specified control objectives. Furthermore, the enhanced convergence rate achieved by the TSC method, in comparison to the SC method, serves as evidence of TSC's effectiveness in guiding the dynamics of ZVL epidemic eradication. This research underscores the potential of the TSC method, utilizing optimal control parameters provided by the DA, to achieve targeted outcomes with improved convergence properties.