Science and Decisions
Science and Decisions

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2009-03-24

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 0309120462

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Risk assessment has become a dominant public policy tool for making choices, based on limited resources, to protect public health and the environment. It has been instrumental to the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as other federal agencies in evaluating public health concerns, informing regulatory and technological decisions, prioritizing research needs and funding, and in developing approaches for cost-benefit analysis. However, risk assessment is at a crossroads. Despite advances in the field, risk assessment faces a number of significant challenges including lengthy delays in making complex decisions; lack of data leading to significant uncertainty in risk assessments; and many chemicals in the marketplace that have not been evaluated and emerging agents requiring assessment. Science and Decisions makes practical scientific and technical recommendations to address these challenges. This book is a complement to the widely used 1983 National Academies book, Risk Assessment in the Federal Government (also known as the Red Book). The earlier book established a framework for the concepts and conduct of risk assessment that has been adopted by numerous expert committees, regulatory agencies, and public health institutions. The new book embeds these concepts within a broader framework for risk-based decision-making. Together, these are essential references for those working in the regulatory and public health fields.

Decision Making and Performance Evaluation Using Data Envelopment Analysis
Decision Making and Performance Evaluation Using Data Envelopment Analysis

Author: Dariush Khezrimotlagh

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-05-03

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 3319763458

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This book offers new transparent views and step-by-step methods for performance evaluation of a set of units using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The book has twelve practical chapters. Elementary concepts and definitions are gradually built in Chapters 1-6 based upon four examples of one input and one output factors, two input factors, two output factors, and four input and three output factors. Simultaneously, the mathematical foundations using linear programming are also introduced without any prerequisites. A reader with basic knowledge of mathematics and computers is able to understand the contents of the book. In addition, to prevent pre-judgment about the available concepts and definitions in the DEA literature, some new phrases are introduced and, after elucidating each phrase in detail in Chapters 1-6, they are reintroduced for industry-wide accuracy in Chapter 7. After that, some of the more advanced DEA topics are illustrated in Chapters 8-12, such as: production-planning problems, output-input ratio analysis, efficiency over different time periods, Malmquist efficiency indexes, and a delta neighborhood model. A clear overview of many of the elementary and advanced concepts of DEA is provided, including Technical Efficiency, Relative Efficiency, Cost/Revenue/Profit Efficiency, Price/Overall Efficiency, the DEA axioms, the mathematical background to measure technical efficiency and overall efficiency, the multiplier/envelopment form of basic DEA models in input/output-orientation, the multiplier/envelopment of Additive DEA model, the multiplier/envelopment of slacks-based models, and others. The book also covers a variety of DEA techniques, input-output ratio analysis, the natural relationships between DEA frontier and the ratio of output to input factors, production-planning problems, planning ideas with a centralized decision-making unit, context-dependent DEA, Malmquist efficiency index, efficiency over different time periods, and others. End-of-chapter exercises are provided for each chapter.

Assessment and Decision Making for Sustainable Transport
Assessment and Decision Making for Sustainable Transport

Author: European Conference of Ministers of Transport

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2004-03-10

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 9282113132

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This report makes recommendations for good practice bringing the results of economic appraisals and environmental assessments before decision makers in the transport sector on the basis of reviews of recent experience in infrastructure planning and policy development in seven countries.

Evaluation in Decision Making
Evaluation in Decision Making

Author: Naftaly S. Glasman

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 9400926693

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This book is about the practice of decision making by school principals and about ways to improve this practice by capitalizing on evaluation dimensions. Much has been written on decision making but surprisingly little on decision making in the school principalship. Much has been also written on evaluation as well as on evaluation and decision making, but not much has been written on evaluation in decision making, especially decision making in the principalship. This book presents two messages. One is that decision making in the principalship can be studied and improved and not only talked about in abstract terms. The other message is that evaluation can contribute to the understanding of decision making in the principalship and to the improvement of its practice. In this book we call for the conception of an evaluation-minded principal, a principal who has a wide perspective on the nature of evaluation and its potential benefits, a principal who is also inclined to use evaluation perceptions and techniques as part of his/her decision-making process. This book was conceived in 1985 with the idea to combine thoughts about educational administration with thoughts about educational evaluation. Studies of decision making in the principalship had already been on their way. We decided to await the findings, and in the meantime we wrote a first conceptual version of evaluation in decision making. As the studies were completed we wrote a first empirical version of same.

The Influence of Economic Evaluation Studies on Health Care Decision-making
The Influence of Economic Evaluation Studies on Health Care Decision-making

Author: J. Matthias Schulenburg

Publisher: IOS Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9781586030292

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Despite the growing activity in the field of health economics very little is known about the influence of economic evaluation studies on health-care decision-making in the EU member states. Several investigations about the impact of health economic studies on decision-making have been done, but most of them did not involve decision-makers themselves. In this work the results of the EUROMET survey are reported and discussed. To allow an international perspective, different types of decision-makers in nine European countries were surveyed. Besides the extent of knowledge about economic evaluation, the actual and potential use of study results as well as barriers and incentives for the use of economic evaluation studies had been investigated.

Decision Modelling for Health Economic Evaluation
Decision Modelling for Health Economic Evaluation

Author: Andrew H. Briggs

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 0198526628

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In financially constrained health systems across the world, increasing emphasis is being placed on the ability to demonstrate that health care interventions are not only effective, but also cost-effective. This book deals with decision modelling techniques that can be used to estimate the value for money of various interventions including medical devices, surgical procedures, diagnostic technologies, and pharmaceuticals. Particular emphasis is placed on the importance of the appropriate representation of uncertainty in the evaluative process and the implication this uncertainty has for decision making and the need for future research. This highly practical guide takes the reader through the key principles and approaches of modelling techniques. It begins with the basics of constructing different forms of the model, the population of the model with input parameter estimates, analysis of the results, and progression to the holistic view of models as a valuable tool for informing future research exercises. Case studies and exercises are supported with online templates and solutions. This book will help analysts understand the contribution of decision-analytic modelling to the evaluation of health care programmes. ABOUT THE SERIES: Economic evaluation of health interventions is a growing specialist field, and this series of practical handbooks will tackle, in-depth, topics superficially addressed in more general health economics books. Each volume will include illustrative material, case histories and worked examples to encourage the reader to apply the methods discussed, with supporting material provided online. This series is aimed at health economists in academia, the pharmaceutical industry and the health sector, those on advanced health economics courses, and health researchers in associated fields.

Decision Making Methods for Evaluation of Efficiency of General Insurance Companies in Malaysia: A Comparative Study
Decision Making Methods for Evaluation of Efficiency of General Insurance Companies in Malaysia: A Comparative Study

Author: ZHAO LOON WANG

Publisher: Infinite Study

Published:

Total Pages: 13

ISBN-13:

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This paper proposes an integration of two neutrosophic based multi-criteria decision makingbmethods, namely the neutrosophic data analytical hierarchy process (NDAHP) and the Technique of OrderbPreference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) with maximizing deviation method, both based onbthe single-valued neutrosophic set (SVNS) to evaluate the efciency of general insurance companies inbMalaysia.