Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara Electronic Theses and Dissertations bannerUC Santa Barbara

Statistical Applications in Population, Health and Geography: At Home in the Twilight Zone

No data is associated with this publication.
Abstract

This dissertation presents four distinct applications in Population and Health Geography. While varied, in each of these applications I center geographic constructs (space, time, exposure and scale), and implement a specific study design (often with novel methods and/or measures) to elucidate these themes in context. In particular, I trace the challenges of measuring exposure, effects, and uncertainty through each application. In the first application I use historical wildfire evacuation zones to identify wildfire exposed populations and investigate the relationship between wildfire exposure and cardiovascular events. For the second application, I describe and test a new time use data collection method in the context of existing tools and simulation models. In the third application I introduce a statistical model into wildfire vulnerability index construction and discuss implications for spatial variability. For the final application I construct a novel indirect measure of school climate and combine multiple data sources to explore mental health variation across school districts in New York City. Together these applications demonstrate the natural partnership of Geography and Statistics in social science.

Main Content

This item is under embargo until February 28, 2025.