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The Pivotal Role of Digital Public Infrastructure in Shaping the Global Economy
No full textThis thesis explores the pivotal role of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)
in advancing effective governance and sustainable development, with a particular
emphasis on its applicability and influence across the Global South. Anchored in
platforms such as Aadhaar (digital identity), Unified Payments Interface (UPI),
DigiLocker, and the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA), India’s
DPI ecosystem represents a public-sector-led, scalable, and modular approach to
delivering digital services. The central research question investigates whether DPI, as
developed and implemented in India, can serve not only as a transformative governance
tool domestically but also as a form of soft power and digital diplomacy abroad,
especially in low- and middle-income countries.
The thesis adopts a multiple case study methodology, combining descriptive and
interpretive analysis of India and Brazil as principal cases, supplemented by emerging
evidence from Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines—countries currently engaged
with India’s DPI model. A secondary data-driven economic model was constructed to
examine the correlation between DPI deployment and progress across selected
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 8
(Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and
Infrastructure). Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as poverty headcount ratio,
financial inclusion metrics, broadband penetration, and digital transaction volumes were
tracked over the 2015–2023 period.
Findings indicate a plausible association between DPI rollouts and measurable
improvements in service delivery, fiscal efficiency, and digital inclusion, particularly
among underserved populations. While the study acknowledges that DPI is one among
several contributing factors, the evidence supports its role as an enabler of inclusive
growth and governance reform. Moreover, India’s strategy of exporting DPI components
via open-source frameworks, modular technology, and bilateral cooperation suggests the
emergence of a new model of South–South digital cooperation rooted in co-development
and digital sovereignty.
The thesis concludes by offering policy recommendations for India to integrate AI
into DPI, leverage its mineral resources for tech-industrial development, and
institutionalize multilateral DPI governance standards. In doing so, India can consolidate
its position as both a domestic innovator and a normative leader in shaping a more
equitable digital future for the Global South.Extension Studie
Power through Industry: Counteracting Contemporary Industrial Trends based on World War II Production and Technology
No full textThe rise of the United States as a global superpower following World War II was not merely a consequence of industrial capacity or geopolitical happenstance but the result of a deliberate and multifaceted strategy. While mainstream narratives emphasize America’s wartime production capabilities and economic resilience, this paper argues for a broader systemic perspective. The United States strategically integrated industrial power, education, and economic policy, drawing on German-inspired technical education models and Halford Mackinder’s geopolitical theories. This interplay of factors enabled the nation to outproduce its adversaries, consolidate global influence through institutions such as NATO and the IMF, and secure key resources essential for sustained economic dominance. By positioning itself at the helm of international institutions and leveraging strategic economic policies, the U.S. institutionalized its influence in the post-war order. Understanding this interconnected framework provides a more comprehensive view of how America’s superpower status was not merely inherited but meticulously constructed.Extension Studie
Dangerous by Design: Distinct Patterns of Violence among Semi-State Terrorist Organizations
Get PDFSemi-State Terrorist Organizations (SESTOs) are armed groups that not only control territory but also govern civilian populations, blending militant violence with governance functions. Despite their rarity, SESTOs account for a disproportionate share of terrorist attacks and fatalities globally. Here we identify 24 SESTOs using explicit criteria applied to organizations in the Global Terrorism Database (1970–2020), constructing an organization-quarter panel to compare their violent activity against thousands of non-SESTOs. Fixed-effects regressions reveal that SESTOs sustain significantly higher attack frequencies and aggregate fatalities without systematically increasing per-attack lethality or targeting state actors disproportionately. Notably, SESTOs exhibit episodic, extreme bursts of violence. A Random Forest machine learning model trained solely on violent activity accurately distinguishes SESTOs from non-SESTOs, confirming their distinct operational profile. These findings suggest that governance capacity shapes SESTOs' sustained and intense violence, highlighting their outsized threat and the need for nuanced policy responses that consider their unique behavioral patterns.Author's Origina
Nourishing Nostalgia: Modern Ex-Soviet Expatriates and their Foodways in the UAE
No full textOn a busy street in one of Dubai’s colorful neighborhoods, a vibrant Uzbek restaurant opens its doors to international customers interested in trying a new cuisine or who have longed for their childhood memories. Often, these customers, known in the UAE as expatriates, appear to be of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) origin and engagingly speak Russian among themselves. On the other side of the road, a modest CIS food store has taken a permanent location, bringing CIS foods to often the same customers of the Uzbek place. Why do CIS expatriates keep coming back to CIS restaurants and supermarkets in Dubai, and what do they look for there? What does it mean for them to maintain ties with “home”? How does Dubai’s internationality as a host affect this meaning? And how strong is intergenerational cultural knowledge transmission in the state of expatriation? As a CIS expatriate myself, I have long asked these questions. Now, it is time to find out what brings us back again and again and how we understand ourselves through our ethnic roots and cultural foods while being abroad. This exploratory qualitative project draws on phenomenological and ethnographic methods to study the day-to-day lives of CIS expatriates in Dubai through conducting unstructured interviews, supportive modes of field observations, and online ethnography of food blogs. The results of this research help fill the gap in understanding former Soviet people abroad and their constructed ethnic identity through food in the unique environment of the UAE, an exceptional country with nearly zero assimilation. In
addition, through the insights gathered from expatriates and while juxtaposing those with an online ethnography of food stores’ social media accounts, utilizing linguistic anthropology of images, supplementary insights were produced as implications and suggestions for these supermarkets. Overall, I expect this endeavor to support future studies on migrants’ ethnic construction and migrant cultures. I build on previous studies of ex-Soviet migrants in other European countries, the US, Israel, and Japan, and from broader studies on migration vs expatriation, ethnicity, nationalism, food, and social identity theory, which provides the necessary frame of sociocultural exposure with own attitudes towards other expatriates with shared ethnicity. Here, I try to understand how expatriate communities make sense of their ongoing and changing experiences as “expatriates” and uncover meanings expatriates assign to their experiences through “home” food abroad
Death and Destruction at the Bridal Shop
No full textThe work is set in New Orleans in the apocalyptic conditions after Hurricane Katrina and is best characterized as commercially-accessible literary fiction with set in an era of climate change and explores deep themes of love, loss and meaning in a humorous way. It is almost finished and is currently at 137,560 words. It is told from the perspective of multiple narrators as I found that the best way to both approximate life as we experience it and to capture the struggles of a community.
My book tells the story of Chrissy, a drug-addicted stripper, who has a wild and unlikely spiritual experience and struggles to retain that miraculous sense of purpose in her life but, nevertheless, ends up in the suburbs of New Orleans married to an orthodontist. Chrissy's search for meaning plays out against the backdrop of hurricane winds and driving rain and flood waters drowning the world, forcing ordinary people to find meaning in the most difficult of circumstances
In Situ Techniques for Quinone-Mediated Electrochemical Carbon Capture and Release in Aqueous Environments
No full textWe present two novel experimental techniques designed to quantify the contributions of nucleophilicity-swing and pH-swing mechanisms to carbon capture in the electrochemical aqueous quinone-based CO2 capture process. Through thermodynamic analysis, we elucidate the intricate interplay between these two mechanisms, and emphasize the critical role of understanding this interplay in the material discovery cycle for carbon capture applications. This insight prompts the development of two innovative in situ techniques. The first technique capitalizes on discernible voltage signature differences between quinone, and quinone-CO2 adducts. By incorporating a reference electrode into the carbon capture cell setup, we apply this method to investigate bis[3-(trimethylammonio)propyl]-anthraquinones (BTMAPAQs). Our findings reveal the isolated contributions of nucleophilicity-swing and pH-swing mechanisms to overall carbon capture capacity under varying wait times and CO2 partial pressures. The second method is developed based on our finding that the adduct form of the quinone exhibits a fluorescence emission from an incident light at wavelengths distinct from the fluorescence of the reduced form, enabling differentiation through optical band-pass filtering at each unique fluorescent signature. Thus, we introduce a non-invasive, in situ approach using fluorescence microscopy, providing the unique capability to distinguish between oxidized, reduced, and adduct species with sub-second time resolution at single digit micrometer resolution. This powerful technique holds significant promise for studying such systems, representing an advancement in our ability to understand carbon capture processes.Chemistry and Chemical BiologyEngineering and Applied SciencesAccepted Manuscrip
Associations between indoor environmental conditions and divergent creative thinking scores in the CogFx global buildings study
No full textFew studies have examined associations between indoor conditions and creativity, despite its importance to knowledge work. Accordingly, we investigate associations between indoor air and thermal conditions and divergent creative thinking scores among 86 young adult knowledge workers in office buildings across four countries over approximately six months. Indoor environmental monitors at participant workstations provided measurements of indoor carbon dioxide and fine particulate matter concentrations, temperature, and relative humidity. Hourly averages of these environmental parameters were paired with participant responses to the Alternative Uses Test, a validated assessment of divergent creative thinking, for incorporation into mixed effects statistical models. The models show statistically significant evidence that higher indoor carbon dioxide concentrations, altered by ventilation and occupancy, are associated with lower divergent creative thinking scores. A 100-ppm increase in CO2 is associated with a 3 % (95 % CI: 0–5 %), 4 % (95 % CI: 1–6 %), and 11 % (95 % CI: 5–16 %) negative difference in the expected fluency, flexibility, and originality count scores, respectively; and an 11 % decrease (95 % CI: 5–16 %) in the expected elaboration score. There is suggestive evidence of lower divergent creative thinking scores with higher fine particulate matter concentrations; however, concentrations and sensor accuracy were low and limit these findings. The thermal estimates suggest a temperature range of roughly 22–26 ◦C to be associated with higher divergent creative thinking scores. Overall, this study suggests that maintaining temperatures within a normative range and focusing on ventilation, to lower concentrations of carbon dioxide and unmeasured but correlated pollutants, can help promote creative thinking in working environments.Accepted Manuscrip
Veteran Status and Oral Health Indicators in Older Men: An Analysis Using the 2016 and 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
No full textObjectives: US veterans exhibit higher rates of oral disease than nonveterans, affecting their quality of life and systemic disease risk. Regular dental care is essential for preventing tooth loss, especially among older adults. The aim of this study was to assess the association between veteran status, dental visits, and tooth loss among older male Americans.
Methods: We analyzed data from the 2016 and 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) surveys in a national cross-sectional study. The study focused on males aged 65 years and older, using descriptive and multivariable logistic regression analyses to measure the association between veteran status and having a dental visit < 1 year ago, and the loss of ≥ 6 teeth due to tooth decay or gum disease. The analyses were adjusted for sociodemographic factors, including age, race/ethnicity, and education level.
Results: Veterans displayed a higher prevalence and increased odds of tooth loss compared to nonveterans after controlling for race and education. However, there was no difference in recent dental visits based on veteran status. The effect of dental visits on the odds of tooth loss indicated that veterans experienced a stronger protective effect of visits on tooth loss (OR: 0.34, 95% CI: 0.31-0.37) than nonveterans (OR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.37-0.45).
Conclusions: Our findings indicate a potential opportunity to reduce disparities in tooth loss among older men. Promoting dental care among veterans could mitigate the risk of tooth loss and its subsequent adverse effects on overall systemic and brain health in this population.
Keywords: dental care; health inequities; longevity and healthy aging; older adults; oral health; tooth loss; veterans.Accepted Manuscrip
International Tax and Corporate Discretion
No full textCorporate social responsibility ("CSR") has a tax problem. The field encourages companies to do more for society than the minimum that is legally required. But, when it comes to companies avoiding tax, CSR has very little to say. Activists even allege that CSR merely distracts from companies' much costlier tax minimization strategies that deprive the state of needed revenue and thereby undercut the state's capacity to perform these very same functions.
Though CSR has historically sidestepped questions of tax, this is beginning to change. Some major companies now discuss tax as a part of their corporate sustainability reporting. And CSR standard setters have started to consider including tax as a factor in their evaluation of corporate behavior. At the same time, countries around the world are starting to implement the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ("OECD") and G20 plan for a Global Minimum Tax. This program aims to enforce a minimum tax rate for large multinational corporations, thereby reducing incentives for tax arbitrage. Though this focus on tightening the rules regarding how much tax business entities owe is significant, companies will still retain much discretion as to where they pay tax.
This Article argues that corporate discretion regarding where to pay tax is a pressing issue about which a more robust version of CSR may provide important guidance. It proposes that future dialogue between tax and CSR should focus not just on how much companies pay but also on where companies pay tax. The Article articulates how considerations of economic development, human rights, and environmental protection may inform the exercise of corporate tax discretion, and it examines the important ramifications of these decisions for global inequality