Modeling Feral Hogs in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Feral Hogs (Sus scrofa) are an invasive species that have occupied the Great Smoky Mountains National Park since the early 1900s. Recent studies have revitalized interest in the pest and have produced useful data. The Park has kept detailed records on mast abundance as well as every removal since 1980 including geographic location and disease sampling. Data obtained via Lidar includes both overstory as well as understory vegetation information. In this dissertation, three models were created and analyzed using the detailed data on vegetation, mast, and harvest history. The first model is discrete in time and space and was formulated to represent hog dynamics in the park. The second is a spatial model of the niche of the population that relates known presence locations to environmental predictors. The third model is a compartmental disease model for pseudorabies in the population. Together, these projects assess the importance of the existing control program, predict suitable locations for hog presence in the Park, and quantify possible transmission routes for Pseudorabies

Toward an Afrofuturist Landscape: A Refutation of the Deceptive Aesthetics of Spatial Violence in Wynberg, Cape Town

Statement of Purpose: This essay represents a continuation of work that I was fortunate enough to be able to begin while I was studying abroad at the University of Cape Town in South Africa during the spring 2022 semester. Beyond this, however, this paper represents an exploratory dive into the spatial humanities, particularly with regard to architecture, history, and landscape–an interest of mine that has developed (and which I hope to pursue more [in/ex]tensively in my graduate studies) as I have had the opportunity to learn from Professor Walter Greason, one of my mentors here at Macalester College. Throughout this work, I weave together anecdote and a broad host of theory in order to expose insidious spatial violences I saw and moved throughout during my time in South Africa, and to consider what alternative negotiations of space–which I also witnessed–refute these violences. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that this essay, as is the case with all writing, is a fundamentally collaborative project: I would not have been able to complete it if not for the support and brilliance of those who I have been fortunate enough to work with and learn from. I am indescribably grateful for my peers in the senior seminar; for my mentors at Macalester College (Professors Walter Greason and Duchess Harris; and Hana Dinku) and the University of Cape Town (Drs. Shari Daya and Natasha Vally); and for all of my family and close friends

The fight to vote: voter identification laws and their impact on voter turnout during the 2014, 2016, and 2018 elections

"Voter identification (ID) laws were introduced into the American electoral system during the 1970s, but have garnered more widespread attention in recent years and have expanded to over 30 states as of 2018. Critics have claimed that these laws are discriminatory toward several groups of voters. Given the supposed relationship between voter ID laws and voter turnout, a contemporary quantitative analysis of this connection should be examined. This analysis will improve existing election law and voting behavior literature by providing recent analyses and data using a quantitative approach with difference-in-difference regression tests. Using data provided by the Current Population Survey, individual Sectary of State office archives, and county-level election boards, this paper measures county-level voter turnout differences in the 2014, 2016, and 2018 election cycles, while controlling for voter ID law implementation and other state-level demographic variables. I concentrate my tests on states that have applied a voter ID law between 2014 and 2018. This analysis finds that states with voter ID laws impact voter turnout in negative and positive directions, which all suggests a larger strategy to ensure Republican victories in historically competitive states.

Topology and dynamics of the A-pillar vortex

The topology and dynamics of the flow bypassing an automobile A-pillar modeled by a 30° dihedron are investigated experimentally. The various components of the A-pillar flow are identified by means of low and high frequency particle image velocimetry. For each component, the time evolution of the position, displacement, vorticity magnitude, circulation, and fluctuating kinetic energy are analyzed along the A-pillar. More precisely, the flow by passing the A-pillar is composed of two vortex structures with different behaviors. The major structure grows in size, circulation magnitude, and total amount of fluctuating kinetic energy along the A-pillar, whereas the minor structure does not vary significantly. Finally, the displacement of the major structure is identified as a movement of precession and the influence of the A-pillar geometry is emphasized

Exploratory investigation of region level risk factors of Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa

Background. Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a highly infectious disease that has produced over 25,000 cases in the past 50 years. While many past outbreaks resulted in relatively few cases, the 2014 outbreak in West Africa was the most deadly occurrence of EVD to date, producing over 15,000 confirmed cases. Objective. In this study, we investigated population level predictors of EVD risk at the regional level in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. Methods. Spatial and descriptive analyses were conducted to assess distribution of EVD cases. Choropleth maps showing the spatial distribution of EVD risk across the study area were generated in ArcGIS. Poisson and negative binomial models were then used to investigate population and regional predictors of EVD risk. Results. Results indicated that the risk of EVD was significantly lower in areas with higher proportions of: (a) the population living in urban areas, (b) households with a low quality or no toilets, and (c) married men working in blue collar jobs. However, risk of EVD was significantly higher in areas with high mean years of education. Conclusions. The identified significant predictors of high risk were associated with ar- eas with higher levels of urbanization. This may be due to higher population densities in the more urban centers and hence higher potential of infectious contact. However, there is need to better understand the role of urbanization and individual contact structure in an Ebola outbreak. We discuss shortcomings in available data and emphasize the need to consider spatial scale in future data collection and epidemiological studies

When Little Things Mean a Lot: On the Inefficiency of Item Pricing Laws

We study item-pricing laws (which require that each item in a store be individually marked with a price sticker) and examine and quantify their costs and benefits. On the cost side, we argue that item-pricing laws increase the retailers’ costs, forcing them to raise prices. We test this prediction using data on retail prices from large supermarket chains in the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The Tri-States offer a unique setting—a natural experiment—to study item-pricing laws because the States vary in their use of item-pricing laws, but otherwise offer similar markets and chains operating in a close proximity to each other in a relatively homogenous socioeconomic environment. We use two datasets, one emphasizing the breadth in coverage across products and the other across stores. We find consistent evidence across products, product categories, stores, chains, states, and sampling periods, that the prices at stores facing item-pricing laws are higher than the prices at stores not facing the item pricing laws by about 25¢ or 9.6% per item. We also have data from supermarket chains that would be subject to item-pricing laws but are exempted from item pricing requirement because they use costly electronic shelf label systems. Using this data as a control, we find that the electronic shelf label store prices fall between the item-pricing law and non-item- pricing law store prices: they are lower than the item-pricing law store prices by about 15¢ per item on average, but are higher than the non- item-pricing law store prices by about 10¢ per item on average. On the benefit side, we study the frequency and the magnitude of supermarket pricing errors, which the item-pricing laws are supposed to prevent. We quantify the benefits of the IPLs by conservatively assuming that they successfully accomplish their mission of preventing all price mistakes. Comparing the costs of item-pricing laws to their benefits, we find that the item-pricing law costs are at least an order of magnitude higher than the benefits.Item Pricing Laws, Costs of Item Pricing Laws, Benefits of Item Pricing Laws, Cost of Price Adjustment, Pricing Accuracy, Electronic Shelf Label System, Pricing Regulation, Cost of Pricing, Supermarket Chains