Disease Model: User Help
Initializing the Model:
  • First use the switches and sliders to set your desired initial settings:
    • initial-population determines how many people will be in the model at the beginning
    • num-doctors determines the how many people will be doctors
    • limit-travel determines whether to add barriers between different regions of the "world"
    • travel-openings determines how many gaps there will be in the barriers
  • Then click Setup Model . You should see people appear in the black "world."
Running the Model:
  • To start the model, click Run/Pause .
  • To pause the model, click Run/Pause again.
  • To re-initialize the model with your current settings, click Setup Model again.
  • If you want to get the default settings, refresh the model page by pressing Ctrl-R on Windows, Command-R on a Mac.
  • You can run the model faster and slower using the slider on the top of the "world."
Adding Prevention and Treatment:
  • In order to administer vaccination and medication, you must add doctors before initializing the model.
  • You can use these sliders to try different methods to keep the disease from spreading. These settings can be changed while the model is running.
    • hygiene determines how much infected people use measures such as hand-washing and covering their mouths when sneezing and coughing
    • vaccination will allow the doctors to vaccinate susceptible people when it is turned on
    • medication will allow the doctors to administer medication that will help infected people to recover
Modifying the Disease:
  • If you want to change nature of the disease, you can use the sliders below the graph. These settings can be changed while the model is running.
    • infectiousness determines how contagious the disease is
    • days-to-recover determines how quickly people will get better and become immune
    • fatality-rate determines how likely a person is to die from the disease
For more instructions on how to use this model, see the Learner and Instructor pages.