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ETD Abstract Container

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An Application of Statistics and Random Graphs to Analyze Local Heroin Markets

Nassani, Sararose
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9711-4279
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case155440032815001

Abstract Details

2019, Master of Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Applied Mathematics.
As of 2018, opioid-related deaths have become more likely than fatal car crashes nationwide [1]. Anthropologists are turning to ethnographic surveys of users at syringe exchange points to gain insider perspective on current illegal drug trade. This novel form of data is untapped for its explanatory and predictive abilities. In this thesis we apply exploratory data analysis techniques and significance testing to understand market behaviors before representing them in a novel agent based model. The respondents as a whole are mostly male, white, under-educated, and under the poverty line. Almost 77% of respondents report brokering for a fellow user. We combine agent based modeling with random graph theory to recreate a social network mimicking a local heroin market. Taking the realism one step further, we develop a novel technique that replicates the respondents as members of the model's network. Overall, the informed model has a valid network topology and gives descriptive insight on the spread of local heroin markets.
Wojbor Woyczynski (Committee Chair)
Lee Hoffer (Committee Member)
Alethea Barbaro (Committee Member)
Jenny Brynjarsdottir (Committee Member)
111 p.
Applied Mathematics; Public Health
random graphs; social network model; social contagion; heroin; local heroin markets; brokering; opioid epidemic; Ohio opioid epidemic; anthropology; ethnographic surveys

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Nassani, S. (2019). An Application of Statistics and Random Graphs to Analyze Local Heroin Markets [Master's thesis, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case155440032815001

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Nassani, Sararose. An Application of Statistics and Random Graphs to Analyze Local Heroin Markets. 2019. Case Western Reserve University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case155440032815001.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Nassani, Sararose. "An Application of Statistics and Random Graphs to Analyze Local Heroin Markets." Master's thesis, Case Western Reserve University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case155440032815001

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case155440032815001
285
© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.