Population dynamics

The following parameters determine characteristics related to population dynamics, such as age distribution, births, deaths, and gender. The values set here generally interact closely with values in the demographics file.

Note

Parameters are case-sensitive. For Boolean parameters, set to 1 for true or 0 for false.
Minimum, maximum, or default values of "NA" indicate that those values are not applicable for
that parameter.

EMOD does not use true defaults; that is, if the dependency relationships indicate that a 
parameter is required, you must supply a value for it. However, many of the tools used to work 
with EMOD will use the default values provided below.

JSON format does not permit comments, but you can add "dummy" parameters to add contextual
information to your files. Any keys that are not EMOD parameter names will be ignored by the
model.

Parameter	Example	Description	Type	Min	Max	Default
Age_Initialization_Distribution_Type	link	The method for initializing the age distribution in the simulated population. Possible values are: DISTRIBUTION_OFF All individuals default to age 20 years old. DISTRIBUTION_SIMPLE Individual ages are drawn from a distribution whose functional form is specified in the demographics file using the IndividualAttributes simple Age distribution parameters. DISTRIBUTION_COMPLEX Individual ages are drawn from a piecewise linear function specified in the demographics file complex distribution parameters.	enum	nan	nan	DISTRIBUTION_OFF
Birth_Rate_Boxcar_Forcing_Amplitude	link	Fractional increase in birth rate during high birth season when Birth_Rate_Time_Dependence is set to ANNUAL_BOXCAR_FUNCTION.	float	0	3.4e+38	0
Birth_Rate_Boxcar_Forcing_End_Time	link	Day of the year when the high birth rate season ends when Birth_Rate_Time_Dependence is set to ANNUAL_BOXCAR_FUNCTION.	float	0	365	0
Birth_Rate_Boxcar_Forcing_Start_Time	link	Day of the year when the high birth rate season begins when Birth_Rate_Time_Dependence is set to ANNUAL_BOXCAR_FUNCTION.	float	0	365	0
Birth_Rate_Dependence	link	The method used to modify the value set in BirthRate in the demographics file (see parameters). Possible values are: NONE Births are not allowed during the simulation, even if Enable_Birth is set to true (1). FIXED_BIRTH_RATE The absolute rate at which new individuals are born, as set by BirthRate. POPULATION_DEP_RATE Scales the node population to determine the birth rate. If BirthRate is greater than 0.005, a value of 2% per year (0.02/365) is used instead. DEMOGRAPHIC_DEP_RATE Scales the female population within fertility age ranges (15-44 years) to determine the birth rate. If BirthRate is greater than 0.005, a value of 1 child every 8 years of fertility [1/8/365(~0.000342)] is used instead. INDIVIDUAL_PREGNANCIES Scales the female population within fertility age ranges (15-44 years) to determine the birth rate, but pregnancies are assigned on an individual basis and result in a 40-week pregnancy for a specific individual with a birth at the end. INDIVIDUAL_PREGNANCIES_BY_AGE_AND_YEAR Similar to INDIVIDUAL_PREGNANCIES, but determines the rate based on the FertilityDistribution (in IndividualAttributes), using the individual's age and the year of the simulation.	enum	nan	nan	FIXED_BIRTH_RATE
Birth_Rate_Sinusoidal_Forcing_Amplitude	link	The amplitude of sinusoidal variations in birth rate when Birth_Rate_Time_Dependence is set to SINUSOIDAL_FUNCTION_OF_TIME.	float	0	1	0
Birth_Rate_Sinusoidal_Forcing_Phase	link	The phase of sinusoidal variations in birth rate. Birth_Rate_Time_Dependence must be set to SINUSOIDAL_FUNCTION_OF_TIME.	float	0	365	0
Birth_Rate_Time_Dependence	link	A scale factor for BirthRate that allows it to be altered by time or season. Enable_Birth must be set to true (1). Possible values are: NONE Birth rate does not vary by time. SINUSOIDAL_FUNCTION_OF_TIME Allows birth rate to be time-dependent, following a sinusoidal shape defined by \(1 + \sin \text{Birth\_Rate\_Sinusoidal\_Forcing\_Amplitude} \times \sin(2 \pi \times (\text{day} - \sin \text{Birth\_Rate\_Sinusoidal\_Forcing\_Phase})/365)\). Set Birth_Rate_Sinusoidal_Forcing_Amplitude and Birth_Rate_Sinusoidal_Forcing_Phase. ANNUAL_BOXCAR_FUNCTION Allows birth rate to follow a boxcar function. The scale factor will be equal to 1 except for a single interval in which it is equal to a given constant equal to 1 + Birth_Rate_Boxcar_Forcing_Amplitude. Set Birth_Rate_Boxcar_Forcing_Amplitude, Birth_Rate_Boxcar_Forcing_End_Time, and Birth_Rate_Boxcar_Forcing_Start_Time.	enum	nan	nan	NONE
Death_Rate_Dependence	link	Determines how likely individuals are to die from natural, non-disease causes. Enable_Natural_Mortality must be set to 1. Possible values are: NOT_INITIALIZED The daily mortality rate is 0, and no one dies from non-disease related causes. NONDISEASE_MORTALITY_BY_AGE_AND_GENDER The individual's age and gender are taken into account to determine the daily mortality rate. NONDISEASE_MORTALITY_BY_YEAR_AND_AGE_FOR_EACH_GENDER Gender, age, and year, are all taken into account to determine the daily mortality rate. Properties, rates, and bin sizes can be set for non-disease mortality for each gender in the demographics file (see parameters).	enum	nan	nan	NOT_INITIALIZED
Default_Geography_Initial_Node_Population	link	When using the built-in demographics for default geography, the initial number of individuals in each node. Note that the built-in demographics feature does not represent a real geographical location and is mostly used for testing. Enable_Demographics_Builtin must be set to true (1).	integer	0	1e+06	1000
Demographics_Filenames	link	An array of the paths to demographics files containing information on the identity and demographics of the region to simulate. The files must be in .json format. Note that this parameter is only required when Enable_Demographics_Builtin is set to 0.	array of strings	nan	nan
Enable_Aging	link	Controls whether or not individuals in a population age during the simulation. Enable_Vital_Dynamics must be set to true (1).	boolean	0	1	1
Enable_Birth	link	Controls whether or not individuals will be added to the simulation by birth. Enable_Vital_Dynamics must be set to true (1). If you want new individuals to have the same intervention coverage as existing individuals, you must add a BirthTriggeredIV to the campaign file.	boolean	0	1	1
Enable_Demographics_Birth	link	Controls whether or not newborns have disease risk drawn from a distribution; uniform disease risk if false. Enable_Birth, Enable_Demographics_Risk, and Enable_Vital_Dynamics must be set to true (1).	boolean	0	1	0
Enable_Demographics_Builtin	link	Controls whether or not built-in demographics for default geography will be used. Note that the built-in demographics feature does not represent a real geographical location and is mostly used for testing. Set to true (1) to define the initial population and number of nodes using Default_Geography_Initial_Node_Population and Default_Geography_Torus_Size. Set to false (0) to use demographics input files defined in Demographics_Filenames.	boolean	0	1	0
Enable_Vital_Dynamics	link	Controls whether or not births and deaths occur in the simulation. Births and deaths must be individually enabled and set.	boolean	0	1	1
Minimum_Adult_Age_Years	link	The age, in years, after which an individual is considered an adult. Individual_Sampling_Type must be set to ADAPTED_SAMPLING_BY_AGE_GROUP.	float	0	3.4e+38	15
Population_Density_Infectivity_Correction	link	Correction to alter infectivity by population density set in the Population_Density_C50 parameter. Measured in people per square kilometer. Possible values are: CONSTANT_INFECTIVITY SATURATING_FUNCTION_OF_DENSITY .. note:: Sparsely populated areas have a lower infectivity, while densely populated areas have a higher infectivity, which rises to saturate at the Base_Infectivity value.	enum	nan	nan	CONSTANT_INFECTIVITY
Population_Scale_Type	link	The method to use for scaling the initial population specified in the demographics input file. Possible values are: USE_INPUT_FILE Turns off population scaling and uses InitialPopulation in the demographics file (see parameters). FIXED_SCALING Enables Base_Population_Scale_Factor.	enum	nan	nan	USE_INPUT_FILE
x_Base_Population	link	Scale factor for InitialPopulation in the demographics file (see parameters). If Population_Scale_Type is set to FIXED_SCALING, the initial simulation population is uniformly scaled over the entire area to adjust for historical or future population density.	float	0	3.4e+38	1
x_Birth	link	Scale factor for birth rate, as provided by the demographics file (see parameters). Enable_Birth must be set to 1.	float	0	3.4e+38	1