Sewanee: Scholarship Sewanee 2023
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Item Black Life at Sewanee in 1950: A Digital Mapping of Residence and Labor(University of the South, 2023-04-28) Abner, CallistaThis project (link: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d692b49d72414e63bdb465218e173ee7) is a Digital History endeavor that was presented at Scholarship Sewanee 2023 but lives on as a searchable webpage for future scholars and curious observers. The page, created using ArcGis StoryMaps software, is titled "St. Mark's Community, Sewanee, ca. 1950: The black community of the University of the South at the height of racism and inequities in housing and labor." It examines and visualizes the ways in which labor relationships and social structures reinforced a racial hierarchy in Sewanee. It contains maps, one of which is the first of its kind, that provide a glimpse into the lives of the many people of color who lived and labored upon the Mountain around the year 1950.Item Why Investing in Companies That Consistently Deliver Affordable Products to Consumers Is Worthwhile(University of the South, 2023-04-28) McCasland, AnnaWhy Investing in Companies That Consistently Deliver Affordable Products to Consumers Is Worthwhile Anna McCasland, C’23 Dr. Huarui Jing, Assistant Professor of Finance Department of Economics and Finance: The University of the South It is a common assumption that high-growth stocks are the best options for short-term investment periods. Given the tumultuous macroeconomic events that have occurred over the past few years including COVID-19 pressures, inflation struggles, global conflicts, and beyond, it is important to take advantage of areas in the market where there is relative constancy and security. Through observing big-picture trends, I have seen the recurring trend of companies with large consumer loyalties in the retail sector remaining resilient in the wake of recent macroeconomic pressures. In multiple cases, this loyalty stems from the ability of leading retail companies to keep prices low for their customers. Therefore, the aim of my presentation is to illustrate why companies focused on delivering affordable consumer products are healthy investments. To test my argument, I will center my analysis on Walmart and its partner companies since Walmart’s main mission is to guarantee low prices for consumers. Besides Walmart, I will explore the performances of J.B. Hunt (JBHT), Tyson (TSN), General Mills (GIS), Proctor and Gamble (PG), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Roku (ROKU), Techtronic Industries (TTNDY), Green Dot (GDOT), and Plug Power Inc. (PLUG). Through employing the diversification effect, I will narrow my analysis by shrinking my portfolio down to five stocks. Then, I will apply the Portfolio Theory Model, Capital Asset Pricing Model, and Chen Roll Ross Model to look at the health of this portfolio from different angles. By the end of my presentation, I will reveal the investment structure that proves to be the best illustration of portfolio optimization under the scenario of tracking these stocks from January 17th to April 12th and investing $1 million into the stock market.Item Maximizing Profit and Managing Risk: A Sector-based Diversification Strategy for Stock Portfolio Optimization(University of the South, 2023-04-28) Wright, Tyler; Conwell, JosephOur senior thesis for the Finance Major involves managing a portfolio of five stocks with a figurative investment of $1,000,000. We carefully select stocks based on historical performance, macroeconomic trends, and information from the Federal Reserve, and diversify our portfolio to mitigate risks. Our investment strategy includes two risky stocks (NVIDIA and VMware) and three safer stocks (JM Smucker, Kinder Morgan, and Walt Disney). We utilize Portfolio Tdetermine optimal heory and Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to weights for our portfolio. Despite small fluctuations in stock prices over the past three months, our portfolio has yielded $180,207, thanks to our use of CAPM to take on more risk.Item Food Desert and Obesity Rates: Evidence from Washington D.C.(University of the South, 2023-04-24) George, Francesca; Collins, SallieThe high financial and human costs of obesity create an urgency to combat this disease that has been increasing with unceasing relentlessness in the United States since the 1970s. This study investigates food deserts as a key variable affecting individuals’ body mass index (BMI) in the District of Columbia to help understand the connection between food inequity and obesity. We analyze sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and food deserts data in pooled cross-sectional and fixed effects ordinary least squares regressions. The narrowness of our study results in data limitations that leave us unable to determine a statistically significant correlation between living within a food desert and BMI. Our findings contribute to the wider literature on obesity in the United States and broaden our understanding of factors affecting this epidemic.Item Do early competitive outcomes have long-term consequences for cognitive ability in the Mangrove Rivulus?(University of the South, 2023-05-05) Newton, Merrit; McGhee, KatieIndividuals vary in their cognitive abilities for a number of reasons, one of which includes the influence of their early environment. Early social experiences and stressors can affect brain development, resulting in cognitive differences later on in life. This study examined whether competitive interactions early in life affected later associative learning in the mangrove rivulus (Kryptolebias marmoratus), a self-fertilizing hermaphroditic fish that essentially produces genetic clones of itself. Genetically identical siblings that hatched on the same day were paired together and grew up in a competitive environment for approximately five months with one fish eventually becoming larger (and presumably dominant) over its smaller, subordinate partner. Siblings were then separated and after five additional months, each individual was trained to associate a particularly patterned wall with a food reward over several days. At the time of these learning trials, subordinate partners had recovered from their initially smaller size and there was no remaining size difference between partners. Despite this compensatory growth, the consequences of the early competitive social environment continued to affect performance. Specifically, the initially larger dominant partner tended to successfully reach the rewarded feeder quicker than their initially smaller subordinate partner. Interestingly, no evidence was found that individuals improved in their performance over time (i.e. no learning), but instead these underlying differences between the initially large and small individuals seemed to be present across all of the trials. Overall, these findings suggest that early social and competitive experiences can have lingering effects on individuals and result in subtle differences on their performance and cognitive abilities.