Minority Health and Health Equity Archive

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21769

Welcome to the Minority Health and Health Equity Archive (MHHEA), an electronic archive for digital resource materials in the fields of minority health and health disparities research and policy. It is offered as a no-charge resource to the public, academic scholars and health science researchers interested in the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Instructional Tools & Models

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 13
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    “A Foot in Both Worlds":Institutionalizing Progressive Community-Engaged Research Centers within Universities
    (Program for Environmental and Regional Equity, 2013) Sacha, Jeffrey; Sanchez, Jared; Hancock, Ange-Marie; Pastor, Manuel
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    A Multiinstitutional, Multidisciplinary Model for Developing and Teaching Translational Research in Health Disparities
    (2012) Estape, Estela; de Laurido, Lourdes E. Soto; Shaheen, Magda; Quarshie, Alexander; Frontera, Walter; Mays, Mary Helen; Harrigan, Rosanne; White, Richard
    Abstract available at publisher's website.
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    Modeling Prejudice Reduction: Spatialized Game Theory and the Contact Hypothesis
    (2005) Grim, Patrick; Selinger, Evan; Braynen, William; Rosenberger, Robert; Au, Randy; Louie, Nancy; Connolly, John
    Philosophers have done significant work on concepts of ‘race’ and ‘racism’, on the ethics of a spectrum of race-conscious policies proposed to address a history of discrimination, and on identity and the experience of race (Outlaw 1996; Boxhill 2001; Bernasconi 2001a; Goldberg 1990; Appiah and Gutmann 1996). That work consists primarily of conceptual and normative analyses of prejudice and of the social policies designed to address it. Philosophers have also considered internal questions of racism within the canonical history of Western Philosophy, in for example Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel (Popkin 1980; Bernasconi 2001b). What has been lacking, however, is sustained philosophical analysis regarding issues raised in the extensive social psychological literature: questions regarding the nature and formation of prejudice, questions regarding the social dynamics of prejudice, and questions regarding prospects for prejudice reduction. Here, explanation is central. If we cannot accurately explain how prejudice occurs and how it can be reduced, how are we to construct adequate public policy? The lack of philosophical attention in this area is thus particularly conspicuous and unfortunate. As a first step toward remedying this situation—and with an eye toward public policy— we apply spatialized game theory and multi-agent computational modeling as philosophical tools: (1) for assessing the primary social psychological hypothesis regarding prejudice reduction, and (2) for pursuing a deeper understanding of the basic mechanisms of prejudice reduction. Social modeling in general has a philosophical pedigree that extends at least back to Hobbes and Locke. The particular techniques of social simulation employed here are relatively new, however, and raise important questions for the philosophy of science. For that reason we proceed reflexively, commenting throughout on both the promise of simulational techniques for social psychology and public policy and their inherent limitations.
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    A graphic measure for game-theoretic robustness
    (MIT Press, 2006) Grim, Patrick; Au, Randy; Louie, Nancy; Rosenberger, Robert; Braynen, William; Sellinger, Evan; Eason, Robb
    Robustness has long been recognized as an important parameter for evaluating game-theoretic results, but talk of ‘robustness’ generally remains vague. What we offer here is a graphic measure for a particular kind of robustness (‘matrix robustness’), using a three-dimensional display of the universe of 2×2 game theory. In such a measure specific games appear as specific volumes (Prisoner’s Dilemma, Stag Hunt, etc.), allowing a graphic image of the extent of particular game-theoretic effects in terms of those games. The measure also allows for an easy comparison between different effects in terms of matrix robustness. Here we use the measure to compare the robustness of Tit for Tat’s well-known success in spatialized games (Axelrod, R. (1984). The evolution of cooperation. New York: Basic Books; Grim, P. et al. (1998). The philosophical computer: Exploratory essays in philosophical computer modeling. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press) with the robustness of a recent game-theoretic model of the contact hypothesis regarding prejudice reduction (Grim et al. 2005. Public Affairs Quarterly, 19, 95–125).
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    REPUTATION FORMALIZATION FOR AN INFORMATION-SHARING MULTI-AGENT SYSTEM
    (2002) Carter, Jonathan; Bitting, Ellijah; Ghorbani, Ali
    We propose that through the formalization of concepts related to trust, a more accurate model of trust can be implemented. This paper presents a new model of trust that is based on the formalization of reputation. A multidisciplinary approach is taken to understanding the nature of trust and its relation to reputation. Through this approach, a practical definition of reputation is adopted from sociological contexts and a model of reputation is designed and presented. Reputation is defined as role fulfillment. To formalize reputation, it is necessary to formalize the expectations placed upon an agent within a particular multi-agent system (MAS). In this case, the agents are part of an informationsharing society. Five roles are defined along with the ways in which these roles are objectively fulfilled. Through the measurement of role fulfillment, a vector representing reputation can be developed. This vector embodies the magnitude of the reputation and describes the patterns of behavior associated with the direction of the vector. Experiments are conducted to verify the sensibility of the proposed models for role fulfillment and overall reputation. The simulation results show that the roles, defined for building reputation in an information-sharing MAS environment, react to different agent and user actions in a manner consistent with the formal definitions.
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    Simulating Market Dynamics:Interactions between Consumer Psychology and Social Networks
    (2003) Janssen, Marco; Jager, Wander
    Markets can show different types of dynamics,from quiet markets dominated by one or a few products, to markets with continual penetration of new and reintroduced products. In a previous article we explored the dynamics of markets from a psychological perspective using a multi-agent simulation model. The main results indicated that the behavioral rules dominating the artificial consumer’s decision making determine the resulting market dynamics,such as fashions, lock-in, and unstable renewal. Results also show the importance of psychological variables like social networks, preferences, and the need for identity to explain the dynamics of markets. In this article we extend this work in two directions. First, we will focus on a more systematic investigation of the effects of different network structures. The previous article was based on Watts and Strogatz’s approach, which describes the small-world and clustering characteristics in networks. More recent research demonstrated that many large networks display a scale-free power-law distribution for node connectivity. In terms of market dynamics this may imply that a small proportion of consumers may have an exceptional influence on the consumptive behavior of others (hubs, or early adapters). We show that market dynamics is a self-organized property depending on the interaction between the agents’ decision-making process (heuristics), the product characteristics (degree of satisfaction of unit of consumption, visibility), and the structure of interactions between agents (size of network and hubs in a social network).
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    Individual-based Computational Modeling of Smallpox Epidemic Control Strategies
    (2006) Burke, Donald; Epstein, Joshua; Cummings, Derek; Parker, Jon; Cline, Kenneth; Singa, Ramesh; Charkravarty, Shubha
    In response to concerns about possible bioterrorism, the authors developed an individual-based (or ‘‘agent-based’’) computational model of smallpox epidemic transmission and control. The model explicitly represents an ‘‘artificial society’’ of individual human beings, each implemented as a distinct object, or data structure in a computer program. These agents interact locally with one another in code-represented social units such as homes, workplaces, schools, and hospitals. Over many iterations, these microinteractions generate large-scale macroscopic phenomena of fundamental interest such as the course of an epidemic in space and time. Model variables (incubation periods, clinical disease expression, contagiousness, and physical mobility) were assigned following realistic values agreed on by an advisory group of experts on smallpox. Eight response scenarios were evaluated at two epidemic scales, one being an introduction of ten smallpox cases into a 6,000-person town and the other an introduction of 500 smallpox cases into a 50,000-person town. The modeling exercise showed that contact tracing and vaccination of household, workplace, and school contacts, along with prompt reactive vaccination of hospital workers and isolation of diagnosed cases, could contain smallpox at both epidemic scales examined.
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    Agent-Based Modeling of Drinking Behavior: A Preliminary Model and Potential Applications to Theory and Practice
    (2006) Gorman, Dennis; Mezic, Jadranka; Mezic, Igor; Gruenewald, Paul
    Objectives. We developed a preliminary agent-based simulation model designed to examine agent–environment interactions that support the development and maintenance of drinking behavior at the population level. Methods. The model was defined on a 1-dimensional lattice along which agents might move left or right in single steps at each iteration. Agents could exchange information about their drinking with each other. In the second generation of the model, a “bar” was added to the lattice to attract drinkers. Results. The model showed that changes in drinking status propagated through the agent population as a function of probabilities of conversion, rates of contact, and contact time. There was a critical speed of population mixing beyond which the conversion rate of susceptible nondrinkers was saturated, and the bar both enhanced and buffered the rate of propagation, changing the model dynamics. Conclusions. The models demonstrate that the basic dynamics underlying social influences on drinking behavior are shaped by contacts between drinkers and focused by characteristics of drinking environments.
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    Modelling disease outbreaks in realistic urban social networks
    (2004) Eubank, Stephen; Guclu, Hasan; Kumar, V.S. Anil; Marathe, Madhav; Srinivasan, Aravind; Toroczkai, Zoltan; Want, Nan
    Here we present a highly resolved agent-based simulation tool (EpiSims), which combines realistic estimates of population mobility,based on census and land-use data, with parameterized models for simulating the progress of a disease within a host and of transmission between hosts10. The simulation generates a largescale,dynamic contact graph that replaces the differential equations of the classic approach. EpiSims is based on the Transportation Analysis and Simulation System (TRANSIMS) developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which produces estimates of social networks based on the assumption that the transportation infrastructure constrains people’s choices about where and when to perform activities11. TRANSIMS creates a synthetic population endowed with demographics such as age and income, consistent with joint distributions in census data. It then estimates positions and activities of all travellers on a second-by-second basis. For more information on TRANSIMS and its availability, see Supplementary Information. The resulting social network is the best extant estimate of the physical contact patterns among large groups of people—alternative methodologies are limited to physical contacts among hundreds of people or non-physical contacts (such as e-mail or citations) among large groups.
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    From Factors to Actors: Computational Sociology and Agent-Based Modeling
    (2002) Macy, Michael; Willer, Robert
    Sociologists often model social processes as interactions among variables. We review an alternative approach that models social life as interactions among adaptive agents who influence one another in response to the influence they receive. These agent-based models(ABMs) show how simple and predictable local interactions can generate familiar but enigmatic global patterns, such as the diffusion of information, emergence of norms, coordination of conventions, or participation in collective action. Emergent social patterns can also appear unexpectedly and then just as dramatically transform or disappear, as happens in revolutions, market crashes,fads, and feeding frenzies. ABMs provide theoretical leverage where the global patterns of interest are more than the aggregation of individual attributes, but at the same time, the emergent pattern cannot be understood without a bottom up dynamical model of the microfoundations at the relational level. We begin with a brief historical sketch of the shift from "factors" to "actors" in computational sociology that shows how agent-based modeling differs fundamentally from earlier sociological uses of computer simulation. We then review recent contributions focused on the emergence of social structure and social order out of local interaction. Although sociology has lagged behind other social sciences in appreciating this new methodology,a distinctive sociological contribution is evident in the papers we review. First, theoretical interest focuses on dynamic social networks that shape and are shaped by agent interaction. Second, ABMs are used to perform virtual experiments that test macrosociological theories by manipulating structural factors like network topology, social stratification, or spatial mobility. We conclude our review with a series of recommendations for realizing the rich sociological potential of this approach.