Alliance One Tobacco (Malawi)
Academic Research Repository at the Institute of Developing EconomiesNot a member yet
52305 research outputs found
Sort by
Modern Warfare: The Impact of Social Media on Citizen Journalism in Interstate Conflicts involving Ukraine
No full textThis thesis explores Ukrainian citizen journalism on social media during the first three months of the 2022 Russian invasion. It aims to fill a gap in the research regarding the use of social media by citizens during domestic conflicts and interstate conflicts.
This study defines ‘citizen journalists’ in the social-media age by building on the existing literature. I identify them primarily as residents of a country, who use their personal social media accounts to publish original content that has news value. I identified types and strategies of citizen journalism by analyzing 50 X (formerly Twitter) accounts covering the period from February 24, 2022, to May 31, 2022. Additionally, I conducted personal interviews with citizen journalists, mediators, and media members, aiming to gather further insights to add to the quantitative findings.
This study found that Ukrainian citizens produce citizen journalism using social media to appeal to Western, English-speaking audiences. The journalists do this out of a sense of civic duty, combined with a desire to participate in some manner, while also aiming to combat online propaganda about the war. Editorial standards—both among those formally trained in journalism and those who are first-time content producers—are apparent in the major efforts taken to identify sources. Techniques such as photos and videos are expanded, especially following their use as fact-checking tools during Euromaidan. Such techniques are favored by international audiences that are the direct target of citizen journalists.
Audience responses confirm the hypothesis that the news landscape on social media is shifting in favor of personal content, including diary-style posts, indicating that the use of social media by citizen journalists empowers more frequent, personal contributions to news stories, which in turn is likely to impact the way Western, English- speaking audiences are informed.Extension Studie
Multi-Persona Oracles for Fair Classification
No full textAs machine learning systems are increasingly deployed in high-stakes domains, incorporating fairness constraints into model training has become a central challenge. Most fairness-aware algorithms assume access to an
idealized human fairness oracle—a source of supervision that is difficult to obtain at scale. Motivated by theories
of value pluralism and drawing on ideas from generative social choice, we introduce the Multi-Persona Oracle
Framework, which uses large language model (LLM) personas to simulate diverse, subjective perspectives on fairness, aiming to more effectively bridge theory with practice.
We collect pairwise fairness judgments from 815 synthetic judges, each representing a unique combination
of personality traits, racial identity, and ideological background. These judgments are elicited using carefully
designed prompts and applied to 200 training and 800 test comparisons drawn from the COMPAS Recidivism dataset. We
extend a no-regret learning framework for fairness-constrained classification, using these constraint sets to train
classifiers and evaluate their generalization across unseen individuals and judges.
We analyze generalization patterns at the level of individual judges, demographically grouped personas, and
two baselines: a default LLM and an expert fairness-oriented persona. To assess robustness, we sweep over a range
of fairness slack parameters γ and report accuracy alongside average and maximum fairness violations on heldout test constraints. In our proof-of-concept case study, our findings show that training on ensembles of judges
yields strong generalization to fairness constraints in out-of-sample holdout sets, due to the complexity of fairness
judgments and the nature of the Logistic Regression model.Applied Mathematic
Effect of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment on Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
No full textChinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has grown rapidly over the past two decades, sparking debate over whether it meaningfully supports economic development or instead fosters enclave projects with limited local benefits. This thesis offers a comprehensive econometric analysis of Chinese FDI in SSA using both country-level and industry-level data, extending through 2022. We investigate how Chinese capital influences key outcomes—ranging from short-term infrastructure and trade gains to longer-run indicators like GDP growth, export complexity, and industry-specific spillovers. Despite prior assumptions that Chinese FDI might concentrate in resource-rich, weak-governance contexts, our regressions find no robust link. Moreover, using multiple measures of Chinese FDI across industry-specific analyses and event study designs, we find largely null or marginal effects on local outcomes, including only limited evidence of positive spillovers in the Construction industry. These findings suggest that Chinese FDI alone rarely drives transformative growth, highlighting the need for strong institutions, complementary policies, and sectoral integration to unlock potential advantages of Chinese investment in SSA.Applied Mathematic
Insurgent Geology: Dismantling Alaska’s Petrostate
No full textSet in Alaska in 2051, Insurgent Geology is a post-oil speculative fiction about hydrocarbons, fossils, power and people. The story blows up pipelines and takes care of the soil and, shifting from deep time to a speculative near future, it calls for Arctic insurrection, environmental geopoetics and social justice. The project critiques geology as an extractive and neocolonial discipline and activity through alternative geosocial practices, mineral kinships, and geoaesthetics in a series of design interventions along the infamous Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.Accepted Manuscrip
From the Patriarch's Hall Collection: The Legend and Recorded Conversations of Yàoshān Wéiyǎn
No full textThis project presents an excerpted translation of the biography and recorded sayings of Y√†oshƒÅn W√©iy«én from the Z«ît√°ng jí (Á•ñ†ÇÈõÜ, Record of the Patriarchs' Hall), a tenth-century Chan Buddhist lamp record. The translation is accompanied by a theoretically informed introduction that frames the work through a literary and heuristic methodology, emphasizing what Paul Ric≈ìur calls a ‚Äúpost-critical, second naivet√©.‚Äù Rather than reducing the text's value to questions of historical veracity or sectarian propaganda, the project reinterprets Chan lineage discourse as a symbolic and pedagogical practice grounded in relationality and dialogical immediacy. By deploying reading strategies such as protreptic dilemmas, performative contradiction, and conversational implicature, the translator aims to reorient readers toward an ‚Äúintimate reading‚Äù of encounter dialogues‚Äîone that respects the form's rhetorical subtlety and soteriological function. In doing so, this project contributes to contemporary conversations about historicity, hermeneutics, and religious pedagogy in classical Chan, and offers new ways to listen deeply to the tradition's enduring conversations.Author's Origina
Fruits, Vegetables, Plant-based Diets, and Breast Cancer
No full textBreast cancer is the most common type of malignancy among women, and incidence rates have been rising in recent years and are expected to continue increasing. Diet is thought to play a role in breast tumorigenesis; healthy plant foods, including fruits and vegetables, and healthy plant-based diets have been associated with reduced risk of breast cancer. These results appear to vary by hormone receptor status, and there is inconclusive evidence on whether these results differ by molecular subtype. Recent advances in ‘omics technology have allowed for the development of methods to measure levels of metabolites present in food or reflective of biological response to dietary intake. Few studies have explored circulating metabolites, especially unidentified metabolomic features, related to fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of breast cancer.
In Chapter 1, we used plasma metabolite values measured in nested case control studies from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and NHSII to develop a metabolomic signature of fruit and vegetable intake. We examined associations between the metabolomic signatures and dietary fruit and vegetable intake with breast cancer risk. In this study, we identified metabolomic signatures reflecting fruit and vegetable consumption and underlying biological processes that may link diet with breast cancer.
In Chapter 2, we pooled data from 28 cohorts in the Pooling Project of Prospective Studies of Diet and Cancer (DCPP). Associations between fruit and vegetable intakes and breast cancer risk were assessed. Higher fruit intake was inversely associated with all subtypes of breast cancer, with the strongest associations observed for ER-negative and triple-negative breast cancer. Higher vegetable intake was associated with lower rates of ER-negative and triple-negative tumors. Results were generally consistent across studies and strata defined by sociodemographic, medical, lifestyle, and study characteristics. These results provided additional evidence supporting consumption of fruits and vegetables for cancer prevention.
In Chapter 3, we investigated relationships between the healthy plant-based dietary index (hPDI) and unhealthy PDI (uPDI) and breast cancer risk overall and by subtypes among 27 cohorts in the DCPP. The hPDI was significantly associated with lower incidence of overall, ER-positve, ER-negative, HER2-enriched, and triple-negative breast cancer. The uPDI was significantly associated with higher incidence of overall and ER-negative tumors. Weaker and nonsignificant results were observed for the remaining subtypes. These findings suggest that healthful plant-based diets were associated with a slightly lower incidence of breast cancer, particularly ER-negative tumors, and unhealthful plant-based diets were associated with higher incidence of the same subtypes.Population Health Science
Stereogram Arcade: Applied illusions of depth perception in a video game
No full textStereopsis is the brain’s ability to fuse together the flat and slightly-differing images from each eye into a rich, three-dimensional understanding of space. Autostereograms – images tailored to evoke stereopsis and reveal a 3D scene when viewed with deconverged or “unfocused” eyes – have unique and engaging entertainment value, as demonstrated by the success of the Magic Eye picture book series, but thus far they have been overwhelmingly constrained to the printed, static realm. Autostereographic video games present a unique medium for interactive, animated, 3D entertainment.
This thesis has two parts. First, an analysis of game design constraints is presented, with considerations for games intended to be viewed autostereographically, focusing on color and peripheral vision. Second, the design and implementation of a series of autostereogram games that use a custom, real-time autostereogram shader with performance and visual optimizations. This thesis builds upon prior work in developing autostereogram generation algorithms. Prior research discovered several visual optimizations, such as removing false artifacts and directional bias, but still suffered from low-resolution slope discrepancies. Different prior research has achieved real-time rendering speeds using hardware acceleration, but relied on methods that induced visual errors. This game expands on and combines both the performance and visual optimizations. Specifically, slope smoothing and real-time compute shader parallelization are novel optimization techniques for autostereogram generation.Computer Scienc
Human-Centric Mobility: Exploring Non-Work Travel Patterns in D.C.
No full textPublic transportation in the U.S. has been designed to serve worker travel patterns. However, only 18% of urban mobility trips are for the purpose of work. Further, post-pandemic, the proportion of trips taken for the purpose of work is decreasing. In order to boost ridership and more equitably serve their communities, public transportation agencies need to consider non-work travel patterns. Using mobile phone data and tap-in/tap-out public transportation data from D.C., this thesis explores the convenience disparities and changes in demand for non-work travel patterns on public transportation. We found that approximately 10% more trips are for the purpose of travelling from the home to a non-work destination post-pandemic compared to pre-pandemic. We found there is a significant convenience burden for non-work trips on public transportation. Non-work trips take 85% longer in travel time and are 55% slower in travel speed than work trips.
This project is in collaboration with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
(WMATA).Computer Scienc
More Choices, Less Extremism: The Effect of Ranked-Choice Voting on Political Extremism in Maine
No full textPolitical polarization and extremism have been intensifying in the United States for decades and are reaching generational highs, posing a threat to foundational democratic norms and institutions. This paper examines the impact of ranked-choice voting (RCV) adoption in Maine on the political extremism of candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives. Utilizing a text-based analysis of candidate campaign platforms from 2006 through 2024, the research quantifies candidate extremism and employs synthetic control matching and difference-in-difference analysis to assess the causal effect of Maine's 2018 RCV implementation. Whereas previous studies have found scant support for the moderating effect of ranked-choice voting, this study's findings indicate that RCV led to a significant decline in political extremism of candidate platforms in Maine. The synthetic control method estimates a 19.8% reduction, while the fixed effects model suggests a 20.5% decrease in rhetorical extremism following RCV adoption. These results suggest that the incentives inherent in RCV, such as the need to secure broader voter appeal, may contribute to a more moderate political environment. The study contributes to the literature on electoral reform and elite-driven polarization and has important policy implications for mitigating political division in the United States.Applied Mathematic
The View from Nowhere: Travels Through the Peripheries of Pine Biomass in Georgia
No full textConfronted by escalating planetary environmental crises, the global demand for "green" energy solutions has paradoxically intensified historically extractive practices in peripheral regions. This dissertation studies one such case: pine biomass in the Southeastern United States. Pine biomass is often misrepresented as a carbon-neutral energy source, and its production relies on patterns of social and environmental appropriation inherited from plantation systems established in the 18th and 19th centuries.
By foregrounding the role of pine as both an industrial commodity and an arboreal tool of enclosure, this dissertation demonstrates how military, carceral, and logistical landscapes are fragmented, reclassified, and concealed under “greening” agendas to stake political claims to ecology. The View from Nowhere mobilizes an experimental geographic methodology that combines political ecology, environmental history, and critical realist filmmaking to move between scalar frames, from the situated to the systemic. The aim is to interrogate the epistemic frameworks and visual paradigms that render these landscapes inevitable and invisible, with the purpose of illuminating crucial opportunities for reconfiguring our engagements with land, labor, and ecology.
At stake is not only an alternative representation of energy transition, but a broader critique of the spatial and economic models that structure our understanding of crises. Through bottom-up accounts of socio-natural processes in Georgia, The View from Nowhere – and its film component, Under Story – resist the dominant technocratic view of “the planetary” as an object of totality and instead seeks to reawaken its productive tensions and inevitable distances. Ultimately, these paradigm shifts seek to assert the political agency of subjects embedded within socio-spatial transformations.Advanced Studies Progra