Health Disparities #1: Effects of Environment

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Ernest Moy (Author)

WHAT IS IT?

Health Disparities Model #1: Effects of Environment

This model illustrates the potential effects of the environment on health. It uses real data from the District of Columbia to compare the environments on the West side (NW & SW) and the East side (NE & SE).

HOW IT WORKS

Environment: The red line divides the West & East sides of the map. Major parks (green) & highways (black) are mapped. US Census Bureau 2010 ZIP Code Business Patterns data are used to calculate the number of doctor offices (excluding mental health specialists), fitness centers, & supermarkets (grocery stores with 5+ employees) per 2,500 population on each side & plotted randomly on each side as doctor, bike, & building icons. Superfund sites (3 in the East & 2 in the West) are plotted randomly on each side as cow skulls.

People: Each turn, people move, reproduce, get sick, and recover (if sick) randomly. Moving on parks & highways, within 5 spaces of supermarkets & fitness centers, or within 2 spaces of doctor offices & superfund sites can affect health. When people get sick, they turn green, and when health reaches 0, they turn into ghosts which do not move.

Counters: These count the total # of people, # of sick people, % of people who are sick, # of dead people, & % of people who have died on each side. The model stops if all people become ghosts or > 100 ghosts accrue on the map.

HOW TO USE IT

The starting # of people, rate of reproduction, rate of people getting sick, & rate of sick people recovering spontaneously can be set with the sliders on the left. The health effects of supermarkets, fitness centers, parks, superfund sites, highways, & doctor offices can be set positively or negatively with sliders on the right.

THINGS TO NOTICE

The default model gives positive health effects to supermarkets, fitness centers, parks, & doctor offices & negative effects to superfund sites & highways.

Which side has the healthier environment?

How does this affect the # of sick people & # of ghosts?

Do sick people & ghosts cluster is certain places? Why?

THINGS TO TRY

Play with the sliders.

What happens if the reproduction rate is too low or the rate of getting sick too high?

What happens if the recovery rate is high?

EXTENDING THE MODEL

Do you have 2 adjacent communities that you want to compare? Install NetLogo & edit the code to suit.

Under setup, map parks & highways as green & black patches.

Under setup-world, the numbers on the create- lines indicate the number of a specific item to map. ('Create-stores 3' means create 3 stores.) Edit these numbers to reflect the relative resources in your 2 communities. Also note that 'setxy random 20 random-pycor' places an item randomly on the East/Right side of the red line while 'setxy random -20 random-pycor' places an item randomly on the West/Left side.

CREDITS AND REFERENCES

Census data from US Census Bureau Amerian FactFinder (http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml).

Superfund site locations from US Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/).

Model by emoyusa@verizon.net

Comments and Questions

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globals 
[
  ltotal
  rtotal
  nlsick
  nrsick
  nldead
  nrdead
  lrsick
  rrsick
  lrdead
  rrdead
]
breed [people person]
breed [stores store]
breed [parks park]
breed [dumps dump]
breed [ghosts ghost]
breed [fits fit]
breed [docs doc]

turtles-own
[
  sick?
  dead?
  left?
  right?
  lsick?
  rsick?
  ldead?
  rdead?
  health
]

to setup
  
  __clear-all-and-reset-ticks
  ask patches
  [set pcolor 3
    if pxcor =  0 [set pcolor red]
    if pycor = -20 and pxcor < 0 [set pcolor green]
    if pxcor = 2 and pycor < -10 [set pcolor black]
    if pycor =  pxcor - 13 and pxcor > 3 [set pcolor black]
    if pycor =  pxcor - 12 and pxcor > 3 [set pcolor black]
    if pycor + pxcor =  -6 and pxcor > 3 [set pcolor black]
    if pycor + pxcor =  -7 and pxcor > 3 [set pcolor black]
    if pycor = -10 and pxcor > -2 and pxcor < 4 [set pcolor black]
    if pxcor = -2 and pycor > -12 and pycor < -6 [set pcolor black]
    if pycor =  pxcor - 9 and pxcor < -2 [set pcolor black]
    if pycor =  pxcor - 8 and pxcor < -2 [set pcolor black]
    if pycor =  pxcor - 11 and pxcor > 1 [set pcolor green]
    if pycor =  pxcor - 10 and pxcor > 10 [set pcolor green]
    if pxcor = 15 and pycor = -10 [set pcolor green]
    if pxcor = 16 and pycor = -10 [set pcolor green]
    if pxcor = 15 and pycor = -9 [set pcolor green]
    if pxcor = 16 and pycor = -9 [set pcolor green]
    if pxcor = 17 and pycor = -10 [set pcolor green]
    if pxcor = -10 and pycor > 10 [set pcolor green]
    if pxcor = -11 and pycor > 10 [set pcolor green]
    if pxcor = -9 and pycor > 10 [set pcolor green]
    ]
  setup-world
end 

to setup-world
  set-default-shape people "person"
  set-default-shape stores "building store"
    set-default-shape parks "tree"
  set-default-shape dumps "cow skull"
  set-default-shape fits "bike"
  set-default-shape docs "person doctor"
  create-stores 3 [setxy random 20 random-pycor set size 3 set color yellow]
  create-stores 6 [setxy random -20 random-pycor set size 3 set color yellow]
  create-dumps 3 [setxy random 20 random-pycor set size 1 set color white]
  create-dumps 2 [setxy random -20 random-pycor set size 1 set color white]
  create-fits 1 [setxy random 20 random-pycor set size 2 set color 125]
  create-fits 7 [setxy random -20 random-pycor set size 2 set color 125]
  create-docs 18 [setxy random 20 random-pycor set size 1.5 set color white]
  create-docs 39 [setxy random -20 random-pycor set size 1.5 set color white]
  create-some-people
end 

to create-some-people
  create-people npeople
  [
    setxy random-pxcor random-pycor
    set color 36
    set size 1.5
    set heading 90 * random 4
    set sick? false
    set dead? false
    set lsick? false
    set ldead? false
    set rsick? false
    set rdead? false
    set health 100
    if xcor < 0 [set left? true set right? false]
    if xcor > 0 [set right? true set left? false]
    if xcor = 0 [set left? false set right? false]
  ]
end 

to go
  if not any? people [ stop ]
  if (nldead + nrdead) > 100 [stop]
  people-wander
  tick
  ;;do-plot
end 

to people-wander
  ask people 
  [
  if health < 0
    [set shape "ghost" set size 1]
  if health > 0
    [rt 90 * random 4
    fd 1]
 if health < 100 and health > 0 and random-float 100 < precover 
    [set health 100] 
    
  if health > 0 and random-float 100 < preproduce
    [hatch 1 [set health 100]]
    
  if health > 0 and random-float 100 < psick 
    [set health (health - random-float 100)]
    
  let storecare one-of stores in-radius 5
  if storecare != nobody and health > 0 and health < 150
  [set health (health + health-from-market)]
  
  let fitcare one-of fits in-radius 5
  if fitcare != nobody  and health > 0 and health < 150
  [set health (health + health-from-fitness )]
  
  let doccare one-of docs in-radius 2
  if doccare != nobody and health > 0 and health < 150
  [set health (health + health-from-doctor)]  
  
  let dumpcare one-of dumps in-radius 2
  if dumpcare != nobody   and health > 0 and health < 150
  [set health (health + health-from-superfund)]  
  
  if pcolor = green and health > 0 and health < 150
  [set health (health + health-from-park)] 
  
  if pcolor = black and health > 0 and health < 150
  [set health (health + health-from-highway)] 
  
  check-sick
  
  ]
end 

to check-sick
  if health >= 100
    [set sick? false
    set dead? false
    set lsick? false
    set rsick? false
    set ldead? false
    set rdead? false
    set color 36]
  if health > 0 and health < 100
    [set sick? true
    set dead? false
    set color lime]
  if health < 0
    [set dead? true
    set sick? false
    set lsick? false
    set rsick? false
    set color white]
  if xcor < 0 [set left? true set right? false]
  if xcor > 0 [set right? true set left? false]
  if xcor = 0 [set left? false set right? false]
  if left? and sick? [set lsick? true set ldead? false]
  if right? and sick? [set rsick? true set rdead? false]
  if left? and dead? [set ldead? true set lsick? false set rsick? false set left? false set right? false]
  if right? and dead? [set rdead? true set rsick? false set lsick? false set left? false set right? false]
  set ltotal count people with [left?]
  set nlsick count people with [lsick?] 
  set nldead count people with [ldead?]
  set rtotal count people with [right?]
  set nrsick count people with [rsick?] 
  set nrdead count people with [rdead?]
  set lrsick nlsick / ltotal * 100
  set rrsick nrsick / rtotal * 100
  set lrdead nldead / (nldead + ltotal) * 100
  set rrdead nrdead / (nrdead + rtotal) * 100
end

There are 3 versions of this model.

Uploaded by	When	Description	Download
Ernest Moy	almost 12 years ago	update	Download this version
Ernest Moy	almost 12 years ago	update	Download this version
Ernest Moy	almost 12 years ago	Initial upload	Download this version

Attached files

File	Type	Description	Last updated
Health Disparities #1: Effects of Environment.png	preview	Preview for 'Health Disparities #1: Effects of Environment'	over 11 years ago, by Ernest Moy	Download

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