Resources Repository
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ReviewPublication 2011Simulation Models of Obesity: A Review of the Literature
Simulation models combine information from a variety of sources to provide a useful tool for …
Simulation models combine information from a variety of sources to provide a useful tool for examining how the effects of obesity unfold over time and impact population health. They can aid in the understanding of the complex interaction of the drivers of diet and activity and their relation to health outcomes. This paper provided an overview of different types of simulation models used to evaluate the potential impact of policies to address the obesity epidemic.…
Decision Analysis | Calibration/Validation | Food/Agriculture | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine -
ReviewPublication 2001Modeling for Health Care and Other Policy Decisions: Uses, Roles and Validity
This is a review article of the role of modeling approaches to guide decision making …
This is a review article of the role of modeling approaches to guide decision making in health care and other domains. The role of models to support recommendations on the cost-effective use of medical technologies and pharmaceuticals is controversial. At the heart of the controversy is the degree to which experimental or other empirical evidence should be required prior to model use. The authors argue that the controversy stems in part from a misconception that…
Energy/Engineering | Climate/Environment | Priority Setting/Ethics | Evidence Synthesis | Mathematical Models | Technology Assessment | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 1984Using Fire in Forest Management: Decision Making under Uncertainty
Prescribed fires are fires that are started under controlled conditions. This is an important strategy …
Prescribed fires are fires that are started under controlled conditions. This is an important strategy used by professionals in modern forest management. Designing, planning, and executing strategies that rely on prescribed fires is challenging because of multiple uncertainties (e.g., weather, fire behavior, etc.). In this paper, decision analysis techniques are used to evaluate prescribed fire decisions in three national forest case study applications.
Decision Analysis | Climate/Environment | Environmental Health -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2024Tutorial: Using Fire in Forest Management: Decision Making under Uncertainty
This self-directed tutorial is for a decision analytic model related to the execution and management …
This self-directed tutorial is for a decision analytic model related to the execution and management of prescribed burns within forests. This tutorial builds upon the work of the publication: Cohan D, Haas SM, Radloff DL, Yancik RF. Using Fire in Forest Management: Decision Making Under Uncertainty. Interfaces 1984; 14 (5): 8-19. Not open access. About the Alan Colowick Innovation Fund The case-based tutorials in this teaching pack were created with support from the CHDS Alan Colowick…
Decision Analysis | Climate/Environment | Mathematical Models | Environmental Health | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional -
Online LearningVideo, Teaching Resource 2020Valuing Statistical Lives: Concepts, Current Practices, and Challenges
Many policies aim to improve longevity, decreasing the risk of death in each year, and …
Many policies aim to improve longevity, decreasing the risk of death in each year, and the value of these risk reductions often dominate the estimated benefits of risk regulations and other policies. This value is often expressed as the value per statistical life (VSL), a term that is widely misunderstood. It is not the value that the analyst, the government, or the individual places on saving an identified life with certainty. Instead, it reflects individuals’…
Climate/Environment | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Health/Medicine | Global -
BookPublication 2018Pricing Lives: Guideposts for a Safer Society
This book describes how the government came to adopt the value of a statistical life …
This book describes how the government came to adopt the value of a statistical life (VSL) approach for valuing changes in mortality risks and argues that its more widespread use would create a safer and more equitable society. The author estimates these values based on how much more money workers would demand to take on more hazardous jobs; his current estimate is $10 million. The book addresses numerous topics such as whether older people’s lives…
Climate/Environment | Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
Resource PortalWeb Portal, Teaching Resource 2024Decision Sciences Institute
The Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) was founded in 1968 as the American Institute for the …
The Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) was founded in 1968 as the American Institute for the Decision Sciences (renamed to the Decision Science Institute in 1986). DSI is an independent non-profit organization with a mission to enrich the discipline of decision sciences and improve educational programs and instruction in decision sciences. DSI conducts annual meetings at the national and the regional levels, and produces a monthly news publication called “Decision Line” as well as two journals,…
Decision Analysis | Climate/Environment | Operations Research | Business/Industry | Health/Medicine | Global | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Quantitative Literacy -
ArticlePublication 2017Valuing Non-Fatal Risks: Monetary and Health-Utility Measures
This article discusses metrics for valuing environmental, health, and safety policies, which should be consistent …
This article discusses metrics for valuing environmental, health, and safety policies, which should be consistent with both the preferences of affected individuals and social preferences for distribution of health risks in the population. Two classes of metrics are widely used: monetary measures (e.g., willingness to pay) and health-utility measures (e.g., quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)). Health-utility measures impose more structure than monetary measures, with the result that individuals’ preferences often appear inconsistent…
Climate/Environment | Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
ArticlePublication 2017Reduced Burden of Childhood Diarrheal Diseases through Increased Access to Water and Sanitation in India: Modeling Analysis
This analysis estimates the health and economic benefits of scaling up the coverage of piped …
This analysis estimates the health and economic benefits of scaling up the coverage of piped water and improved sanitation to a near-universal 95% level among Indian households. The authors used an agent-based microsimulation platform, IndiaSim, to model disease progression and individual healthcare-seeking behavior in India, and use ECEA to estimate health and economic outcomes over time. They found that scaling up access to piped water and improved sanitation could avert 43,352 diarrheal episodes and 68…
Energy/Engineering | Priority Setting/Ethics | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Asia & Pacific