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The Balance of Restraint: An Analysis of Warfighting Norms and Patterns in Global Conflict
No full textWhat are the origins of contemporary “forever wars”? Using novel data on military capabilities and international conflict, I provide evidence that wars between militarily unequal adversaries dramatically increased in duration after 1918, whereas wars between similarly capable adversaries did not. I argue that this transformation in global conflict patterns relates to the evolving nature of the balance of battlefield restraint. Changes in norms around warfighting, arising as an unintended consequence of great power behavior at the turn of the twentieth century, reshaped this balance by weakening nineteenth-century norms against guerrilla warfare. Whereas the balance of battlefield restraint once decisively favored stronger actors, it evolved to empower weaker ones. The emergent balance of restraint enabled weaker actors to survive longer when facing more powerful adversaries, thus drawing out their wars.
My dissertation presents my argument and evidence in two stages. First, I establish the empirical puzzle and develop my theoretical foundations. In Chapter 1, I introduce my dataset, Global Wars, 1800-2022, and explore patterns in conflict outcomes. After identifying the shift in global conflict patterns, I turn to possible explanations for the war duration puzzle in Chapter 2 and put forth my own argument grounded in a social theory of military strategy in Chapter 3. Second, I provide historical and statistical evidence for my argument. Chapter 4 mobilizes case evidence, ranging from the Iberian Peninsula to Southeast Asia, to demonstrate the social process of warfighting norms. Chapter 5 uses a variety of statistical techniques, including matching, survival analysis, and machine learning, to examine the connection between wartime restraint and asymmetric war duration. Finally, in Chapter 6, I apply my theory of social military strategy to the case of indiscriminate violence, arguing that strong powers responded to the twentieth-century norm against brutality through tactical substitution.
Together, these chapters produce several major findings in the study of war: first, that asymmetric wars have experienced substantially longer wars since 1918, whereas symmetric wars have not; second, that battlefield restraint has evolved over time; third, that mutually restrained warfare decreases conflict duration, while mutually unrestrained warfare increases it; and fourth, that norms against brutality have encouraged powerful states, especially liberal ones, to diversify their approaches to indiscriminate violence.Governmen
Untangling the Cosmic Web: Cosmology in the connections between galaxies and the large-scale structure of the Universe
No full textWe live in a massive web of dark matter which is illuminated by galaxies. Large cosmological surveys map out the positions of galaxies across cosmic time to explore how this structure evolves and the forces which drive it: gravity and dark energy. But galaxies are not indifferent inhabitants of the cosmic web. Large-scale gravitational forces leave detectable imprints on galaxies, affecting their motions, shapes, and orientations. This dissertation untangles these correlations and provides insights into their nature, how they bias cosmological measurements, and original methods for unlocking their potential as a direct cosmological probe.
The intrinsic alignment of galaxies (IA) is a subtle effect that is only detectable with tens of thousands of galaxies. Large galaxies surveys like the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) have provided the strictest constraints yet on the nature of dark energy, but are also uniquely susceptible to the effects of IA. IA is most commonly studied as a bias for weak lensing measurements: a method of measuring underlying matter through the gravitational distortion it creates in the light of distant galaxies. This dissertation explores how IA can also affect galaxy clustering in DESI, biasing measurements of redshift-space distortions (RSD). We demonstrate that, if unaccounted for, IA will combine with an orientation-dependent selection effect to lower the measured growth rate of structure, particularly at high redshifts. Given the advancements of large cosmological surveys, we also revisit traditional IA methods and propose alternative estimators for measuring them in the presence of RSD. Although IA can trace large-scale structure and the cosmological effects that form it, practical applications are limited by difficulties in directly detecting IA in blue, faint, and distant galaxies. This dissertation documents these difficulties and identifies a novel approach to circumvent them: multiplet alignment. By detecting correlations between the orientations of small galaxy groups and the underlying dark matter, we show that small-scale galaxy clustering preserves an interpretable memory of the cosmic web. It can be used to uniquely explore the fingerprints left on galaxies by dark energy and gravity, probing their fundamental nature. These insights into the nature of IA and optimal measurement methods will advance the power of large and upcoming cosmological surveys.Astronom
Organizing for Innovation: Strategic Approaches to Accelerating Digital Health and AI Innovation in a U.S. Hospital and Healthcare System Context
No full textDigital health and AI technologies are reshaping care delivery, presenting hospitals with both a mandate and an opportunity to lead innovation that is high-impact, effective, and scalable. However, many lack the integrated organizational strategy, ecosystem collaboration, and product-level support needed to turn ideas into real-world impact. This doctoral project investigates how hospitals, using Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) as a case study, can strengthen their capacity to incubate, validate, and scale digital health innovations.
Guided by Open Innovation, the study addressed: (1) the challenges and opportunities within the external digital health innovation ecosystem; (2) hospital-based strategies for enhancing digital health innovation throughout its lifecycle; and (3) the critical elements required for an Innovator's Toolkit enabling incubation, scaling, and commercialization within the BCH context.
This mixed-methods study combined a qualitative BCH case study with design-based research (DBR) to prototype a Digital Health Innovation Toolkit. Data included immersive fieldwork (BCH), document analysis, and 15 semi-structured interviews with diverse stakeholders (hospital, product, ecosystem, industry). Thematic analysis, grounded in Open Innovation theory, was conducted, utilizing generative AI tools to augment qualitative coding and explore thematic relationships within the data.
Findings highlight key external ecosystem dynamics: barriers (e.g., regulatory complexity, adoption resistance) and opportunities (e.g., strategic partnerships, patient-centered innovation). Internally, success hinges on leadership support, a culture of experimentation, and robust early validation infrastructure. A resulting five-phase innovation strategy framework, OI-aligned, guides hospital-led innovation from opportunity identification through scaling. Additionally, a modular Innovation Toolkit was produced, addressing a critical support gap by equipping staff with practical tools for product development, market analysis, and business modeling.
This research contributes to theory (adapting Open Innovation for hospitals and health systems) and practice (actionable strategies/tools integrating product design, organizational capacity-building, and ecosystem collaboration). Furthermore, this research advanced hybrid methodological approaches by demonstrating the potential for generative AI to rigorously integrate qualitative thematic analysis with exploratory quantitative analysis and data visualization, as detailed in supplementary analysis. The developed framework, toolkit, AI-assisted methods offer practical guidance and a systematic approach for hospitals, researchers, and practitioners seeking to strengthen innovation capacity and accelerate digital health innovation.Public Healt
Beyond Regional Specialization — Using Individualized Networks to Characterize Cortical Brain Function During Emotion Processing
No full textThe human brain is the ultimate translator – taking in basic physical properties, like light and sound, and transforming them into complex human capacities. This process involves billions of neural transmissions across distributed, specialized brain systems. Recent advances in neuroimaging have allowed researchers to map these systems into coordinated yet discrete functional networks in the cortex, using an approach called functional connectivity analysis. These cortical networks support higher-order cognitive functions, such as recognizing emotion in faces, by integrating activity across specialized regions. Understanding these networks is key to cognitive neuroscience. While functional connectivity analysis has been vital for mapping large-scale networks, traditional group-averaged approaches have masked individual variability in network topography, leading to mischaracterizations of brain function. In response, precision neuroscience has emerged, focusing on the deep sampling of individuals rather than relying on group averaging. Precision approaches better capture individual topography and activity. This dissertation investigates individually defined cortical networks, focusing on how they support emotion processing using a widely adopted emotion processing task. Chapter 1 evaluates the impact of widespread use of group-averaged network atlases (aka. parcellations) in clinical and developmental research for identifying cortical networks and examining the associations of network function with other individual characteristics such as age and cognitive abilities. This
chapter highlights the need for alternative approaches that better account for individual differences in network topology. Chapter 2 explores emotion processing using an individualized network parcellation approach. I examine how network-level recruitment during a canonical emotion processing task, originally targeting the amygdala, offers a more comprehensive approach for understanding neural activity patterns during emotional face processing. Chapter 3 investigates whether individualized network parcellations improve the test-retest reliability of neural activity during a canonical emotion processing task, which despite widespread use, exhibits poor reliability. This chapter further explores associations between network function, stress, and psychopathology, examining both individual differences as well as within-person fluctuations in symptoms of psychopathology and stress as potential sources of variability.
Collectively, this dissertation highlights the importance of precision neuroscience approaches in studying cortical network function. By moving beyond region-based and group-averaged methods, it offers new insights into how distinct cortical networks, identified at the individual level, contribute to emotion processing. These findings provide a more comprehensive approach for characterizing brain function during emotion processing and underscore the value of precision neuroscience.Psycholog
The Point of the Lake: A Novel
No full textFor generations, the Callahans have visited The Point, a collection of cabins at the most beautiful vantage point on the Lake, in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains. The Point of the Lake is a novel about belonging and not belonging, to place and to people and to self; what happens when dreams connect to realities not spoken, and the toll of family secrets. Grandmother Rosemary, daughter Ros, and granddaughter Terra all experience clarity the week they spend at the Lake. Each has dreams that are vivid, somewhat predictive, or revealing of some hidden truth.
Told through one week of vacation for each section, this story works backwards through each woman’s perspective, revealing more about the family and the meaning of these dreams as the story progresses. As each section of the novel steps backwards in time, shifting focus from granddaughter to daughter to grandmother, the origins of family secrets and traditions are revealed. The final section brings the family’s unburdening to the present, offering a path forward. Questions of how one generation relates to the next, and how place can hold a family together across time and space imbue this story with as many inquiries as answers, weaving in the awareness of the fine line between trauma and tradition.Extension Studie
Wild Pilgrimage: Reimagining the Sacred in a Secularizing World
No full textThis thesis seeks to expand the academic study of pilgrimage by exploring non
traditional, nature-based pilgrimage experiences and their transformative and
rehabilitative effects. It explores how these experiences challenge and broaden historical
depictions of pilgrimage, particularly in an increasingly secularizing world, and how they
reshape our understanding of the sacred. Through case studies, including personal
memoirs and blog posts, the project demonstrates that spiritual experiences in nature
especially those involving interactions with non-human entities–offer meaningful
alternatives to traditional religious pilgrimages. This research adopts an interdisciplinary
approach, drawing primarily from Anthropology and Religious Studies, with elements of
History, Psychology, Philosophy, and other Social Sciences to contextualize the
complexities of pilgrimage. The study emphasizes the role nature plays in the pilgrim’s
journey and how natural environments facilitate transformative experiences–an aspect
that has been overlooked in existing scholarship. It argues that non-institutional spiritual
practices such as hiking, camping, or retreating into natural settings should be recognized
as legitimate pilgrimage processes. Thus, this work advocates for a more inclusive
understanding of pilgrimage, one that embraces the spiritual significance of nature-based
experiences and the relational dynamics between humans and non-humans.Extension Studie
Comparison of 2.4 French Microcatheters and 4 French Berenstein Cathetersin Central Venous and Portal Vein Measurements in Canines with diagnosed Intrahepatic Portal Systemic Shunts
No full textThis study’s aim was to assess if the 2.4-F (Boston Scientific) microcatheter could
be utilized to obtain similar blood pressure measurements to the 4-F Berenstein
angiographic catheter (Merit Medical) in canines undergoing percutaneous transvenous
coil embolization (PTCE) at the Schwartzman Animal Medical Center Interventional
Radiology and Endoscopy Department. Between March 2023 and March 2024, ten
canines (N=10) were enrolled for the treatment of a confirmed diagnosis of intrahepatic
portosystemic shunts (IHPSS). Via Bland-Altman analysis, it was determined that both
methods’ beta values showed no statistical difference between pressure values between
the two catheters. Additionally, a Bland-Altman analysis was conducted with two
covariates; weight and shunt type, and it was determined that neither weight nor shunt
type influences the given results acquired by either method. Based on this statistical
analysis, it is concluded that future clinicians may use a 2.4-F microcatheter in place of a
4-F Berenstein angiographic catheter, confident that accurate pressure measurements are
achieved.Extension Studie
Doctor Who: Political Allegory in Time and Space
No full textDoctor Who, a science fiction program first debuting in 1963, has a longstanding tradition of employing political allegory as a successful strategy to optimize audience engagement. From countercultural revolutions of the 1960s to the ‘spy mania’ craze of the 1970s, Doctor Who expressed popular culture in a format that was accessible to audiences of all ages. By the 1980s Doctor Who ceased using political allegory, much to the detriment of the program’s success. In order to draw audience members back into the program, Doctor Who resumed its use of political allegory, this time satirizing the government, something most viewers could identify and relate to. Unfortunately, the efforts to bring back political allegory came at too late of a stage to preserve the program, and it was cancelled in 1989. When Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, political
allegory became the backbone of the program once again, carrying the program to its 60th anniversary in 2023.Extension Studie
Investigating the Influence of Sustainability Workshops on Behavior: An Experimental Study
No full textWith the increasing intensity of climate change, there is a growing need to identify effective interventions to promote pro-environmental behavior (PEB). An experimental study evaluated the effectiveness of a multi-component intervention consisting of environmental education, a carbon footprint analysis, an action planning activity, and social interaction combined into a live-virtual workshop format on fostering PEB among individuals already engaged in the climate space. The final analytic sample was composed of 146 participants, divided into a waitlist control group and a treatment group. Data were collected through baseline and follow up surveys and supplemented by optional virtual interviews. The results revealed that the treatment group incorporated twice as many new sustainable actions than the control group post-intervention across the six behavioral categories (M = 1.38 vs. M = 0.75, p = .006). The treatment group noted that the carbon calculator was the most impactful aspect of the intervention (31.5%, n = 23). Although the intervention increased PEB, it did not influence overall environmental knowledge. Both groups exhibited similar intrinsic motivations, environmental concern and social responsibility, as well as extrinsic barriers, financial and time constraints. Of those in the treatment group, 46.5% (n = 20) shared intervention learnings with their communities suggesting that the intervention may have a more wide ranging impact beyond the direct participants. Overall, the research findings support the concept that a workshop can promote PEB in individuals with preexisting high levels of sustainability knowledge and engagement.Extension Studie
Weathering the Storm: How Public Insurers are Responding to Climate Change
No full textClimate change poses a pertinent threat to the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry, as insurers are tasked with providing affordable policies while trying to remain profitable given the heightened risk. Without insurance, residents in areas experiencing climate disasters might become reliant on insolvent state government programs to help them rebuild, or they might relocate if they have the means to do so. This paper seeks to understand how insurers are responding to these climate threats in their earnings call transcripts, while also considering the corresponding market actions in share prices and equity research reports. Existing literature has often overlooked the intersection between climate and insurance specifically, focusing more on predicting stock prices over a short time horizon. This paper's novelty comes from applying large-scale sentiment analysis with three models (Vader, FinBERT, and ProsusAI) to this underexplored sub-sector. The results suggest a disconnect between disclosures and climate events given the low frequency of climate-related words being extracted and weak explanatory power of financial variables and damages to sentiment scores. Yet, this disconnect is in line with insurers' actions, where they are effectively offloading their risk (i.e., exiting risky areas or raising premiums to cover higher risk costs) to remain profitable, causing investors to worry less about climate risk in their valuations. Consequently, these actions cause lower-income homeowners and renters to lose coverage, exacerbating existing inequalities.Computer Scienc