Month: September 2024

Analyzing incentives and barriers to electric vehicle adoption in the United States

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Abstract

The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is influenced by a range of incentives and barriers. EVs offer benefits such as reduced emissions and lower costs but face challenges in gaining widespread acceptance. Government subsidies, tax credits, and EV charging infrastructure have played a pivotal role in driving EV adoption, making them more financially attractive and convenient. However, barriers such as high upfront costs, limited driving range, insufficient charging infrastructure, and consumer concerns about battery life and availability have hindered broader uptake. This study presents a novel approach that considers both incentives and barriers to summarize the factors influencing EV development in the US. Through a comprehensive literature review, we explore the various barriers and incentives that affect EV deployment. Using an advanced fishbone diagram, we categorize the factors into economic and market, technical, policy, and social categories, providing a better understanding of their interrelationships. We discuss critical incentives and barriers within each category, offering a detailed analysis of their impact on EV adoption. Additionally, we present the results of a quantitative analysis of selected factors by examining their correlations with EV sales. This research provides a comprehensive understanding of the incentives and barriers to EV development in the US, assisting policymakers and stakeholders in developing effective strategies and initiatives for promoting EV adoption and achieving a cleaner and more sustainable future.

Can de-risking avert supply chain precarity in the face of China-U.S. geopolitical tensions? From sanctions to semiconductor resilience and national security

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Abstract

As a main driver of geoeconomic power, technological supremacy is at stake in the current zero-sum tech war between the U.S. and China. Semiconductor chips have become an emerging geopolitical frontier in the rivalry of the two powers. Since the confrontation has intensified, the U.S. seeks to weaponise its dominant position in the global semiconductor value chain (GSVC). Some industrial policy-driven geostrategic approaches inform the race to reduce the GSVC vulnerabilities. The tit for tat nature of sanctions risks making multilateralism decline and further undermining the effectiveness of the global governance regime. Shifts in rising economic competition highlight the constraints on collective action. It remains critical as to whether the international economic and legal system can survive the current fractured geopolitics, and whether the new thinking on global governance could be viable for a non-zero-sum game.

Towards decolonising higher education: a case study from a UK university

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Abstract

This article presents initiatives undertaken by the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine (GHSM) at King’s College London (KCL), exploring avenues to decolonise higher education institutions (HEI). HEI must integrate anti-racism agendas, challenge the European-centric academic knowledge domination, and dismantle power asymmetries. During the academic year 2021, GHSM executed (1) a gap analysis of undergraduate modules, (2) a course on decolonising research methods taught by global scholars to 40 Global South and North university students who completed pre- and post-course surveys, and (3) semi-structured interviews with 11 academics, and a focus group with four students exploring decolonising HEI; findings were thematically analysed. (1) Gap analysis revealed a tokenistic use of Black and minority ethnic and women authors across modules’ readings. (2) The post-course survey showed that 68% strongly agreed the course enhanced their decolonisation knowledge. (3) The thematic analysis identified themes: (1) Decolonisation is about challenging colonial legacies, racism, and knowledge production norms. (2) Decolonisation is about care, inclusivity, and compensation. (3) A decolonised curriculum should embed an anti-racism agenda, reflexive pedagogies, and life experiences involving students and communities. (4) HEI are colonial, exclusionary constructs that should shift to transformative and collaborative ways of thinking and knowing. (5) To decolonise research, we must rethink the hierarchy of knowledge production and dissemination and the politics of North-South research collaborations. Decolonising HEI must be placed within a human rights framework. HEI should integrate anti-racism agendas, give prominence to indigenous and marginalised histories and ways of knowing, and create a non-hierarchical educational environment, with students leading the decolonisation process.

Towards decolonising higher education: a case study from a UK university

Latest Results

Abstract

This article presents initiatives undertaken by the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine (GHSM) at King’s College London (KCL), exploring avenues to decolonise higher education institutions (HEI). HEI must integrate anti-racism agendas, challenge the European-centric academic knowledge domination, and dismantle power asymmetries. During the academic year 2021, GHSM executed (1) a gap analysis of undergraduate modules, (2) a course on decolonising research methods taught by global scholars to 40 Global South and North university students who completed pre- and post-course surveys, and (3) semi-structured interviews with 11 academics, and a focus group with four students exploring decolonising HEI; findings were thematically analysed. (1) Gap analysis revealed a tokenistic use of Black and minority ethnic and women authors across modules’ readings. (2) The post-course survey showed that 68% strongly agreed the course enhanced their decolonisation knowledge. (3) The thematic analysis identified themes: (1) Decolonisation is about challenging colonial legacies, racism, and knowledge production norms. (2) Decolonisation is about care, inclusivity, and compensation. (3) A decolonised curriculum should embed an anti-racism agenda, reflexive pedagogies, and life experiences involving students and communities. (4) HEI are colonial, exclusionary constructs that should shift to transformative and collaborative ways of thinking and knowing. (5) To decolonise research, we must rethink the hierarchy of knowledge production and dissemination and the politics of North-South research collaborations. Decolonising HEI must be placed within a human rights framework. HEI should integrate anti-racism agendas, give prominence to indigenous and marginalised histories and ways of knowing, and create a non-hierarchical educational environment, with students leading the decolonisation process.

“My Neighbor, My Friend": The Relevance of Support, Closeness, and History of Relations in Neighborhood Friendship

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Abstract

Friendship is a common and essential social relationship in daily life. Various works of literature have described friendship including how it is experienced in various contexts, yet limited studies have focused on the neighborhood context. This study aimed to investigate the relevance of neighborhood friendship and the characteristics of friendship that make it still relevant, especially in Indonesia. This study was conducted in two phases: 1) an online survey with an open-ended questionnaire and 2) in-depth interviews. A total of 222 participants completed the questionnaire and among those, 15 participants were interviewed to further understand the relevance of neighborhood friendship based on the emerging themes from the open-ended responses. This study found that neighborhood friendship is still relevant despite physical distance. Those relevancies are perceived in the three main characteristics of friendship: support, closeness, and history of relations. This study also found that the essence of friendship is not only discussed in a romantic view which highlights intimacy and closeness, but also in an instrumental view. However, support as an instrumental process may indicate the expressions of closeness, especially in close friendships. Furthermore, this study also suggests that although proximity characterized by physical interaction is crucial in the formation and maintenance of neighborhood friendship, physical distance and social mobility did not dissolve the relationship, due to the history of relations. In the neighborhood context, the history of relations bond people to a certain place and the social relationship formed in that particular place, stimulating certain feelings of belonging which encourage the maintenance of neighborhood friendship.

Resistance Meaning-Making Process in a Brazilian Coco Music Group

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Abstract

This study addresses an investigation about how music and its elements (musical instruments) of a coco music group plays out in the cultural resistance process in remnants of a quilombola community. To that end, a survey was performed in the Castainho quilombola community, located in the rural area of the municipality of Garanhuns, belonging to the Agreste region of Pernambuco, Brazil, through a local coco music group named Castelo Branco. By adopting the theoretical-methodological assumptions of semiotic cultural psychology, a case study was conducted in line with the idiographic science, using combined research techniques to construct data, which would check the relevance of rituals and daily activities for the conservation of local customs through musical manifestation, with a special focus on the use of musical instruments and the lyrics of their songs. The research seeks to understand the identity elements of a quilombo, considering music as a point of preservation and strengthening of the maintenance of its culture.

The power of the “weak” and international organizations

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Abstract

By nearly every measure, power in the international system is concentrated, meaning that most states lack significant power resources. And yet international relations theory tends to focus on the behavior of great powers. This special issue instead explores the strategies that “weak” states use in the context of international organizations both to advance their interests and to resist pressure from stronger states. We define weakness as a relative lack of power across one or more dimensions. While the literature, to the extent it has focused on weak actors, has too often defined weakness solely in material terms, we adopt a broader conception that builds on the influential typology of power by Barnett and Duvall (Barnett and Duvall, 2005a, Barnett and Duvall, International Organization 59, 39–75, 2005b). A multidimensional conceptualization of power allows analysts to show how actors that are weak in one dimension (often material power) may be stronger on other dimensions, giving them greater capacity for action than is often recognized. From this framework we create a typology of “strategies of the weak” that emphasizes the agency of weaker actors to make the most of their positions. The contributions to the special issue, summarized here, illuminate and substantiate many of these strategies across a diverse range of international organizations, understood as both forums and actors. As the articles show, these alternative theoretical mechanisms help explain how and why seemingly weak states sometimes fare better than a simplistic assessment of their material capabilities might suggest. By deepening our understanding of weakness and how it influences state behavior, the volume advances our theoretical understanding of how power is built, wielded, and resisted in and through international organization.

The only living guerrillero in New York: Cuba and the brokerage power of a resilient revisionist state

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Abstract

This article explores how weak countries deflect systemic pressure towards change and even succeed in preserving old institutions to their advantage. By expanding Goddard’s theory of embedded revisionism to smaller powers, the study identifies strategies these states deploy to improve access and brokerage. We use the UN General Assembly Sponsorship Dataset to locate multilateral brokers and, after detecting Cuba’s centrality in this arena, we proceed to a heuristic case study. Havana’s maneuvers to offset its vulnerability during and after the Cold War reveal a mix of structural, institutional, and compulsory power. Specifically, its renewal of the Non-Aligned Movement even after the end of bipolarity, its maintenance of autocracy amidst the pressures for democratization, and later support of radicalized Latin American leaders provide insight regarding unexpected sources of network power available to a resilient rogue state.

Exploring the impact of establishment mode on intangible strategic asset creation in Chinese MNEs: springboard cross-border strategic asset-seeking M&As versus greenfield R&D-related FDI projects

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Abstract

How does greenfield versus M&A FDI establishment mode influence intangible asset creation in the parent companies of Chinese MNEs undertaking overseas knowledge sourcing/strategic asset-seeking types of FDI? We hypothesise that while springboard type cross-border acquisitions provide opportunities for the rapid addition of locally embedded competence-creating foreign subsidiaries, challenges in developing intra-MNE knowledge diffusion channels may frustrate integration and thus retard subsequent growth of parent firms’ intangible assets. Greenfield R&D FDI, by contrast, may initially lack local embeddedness but holds out the potential for superior intra-MNE linkages and thus reverse knowledge diffusion to the MNE parent. Our results, based upon propensity score matching and difference in difference models comparing CMNE parent outcomes for FDI projects over the 2003–2018 period, support this argument. We discuss implications for mainstream international business theorising, including springboard theory, which largely overlooks greenfield establishment mode as a means of rapid firm-level catch-up for emerging market MNEs.

A Computation Framework for LISS-III Analysis Ready Data (ARD) Products for Indian Spatial Data Cube Generation

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Abstract

The velocity and volume of MultiSpectral (MS) remote sensing data have recently increased exponentially. In recent times, however, the absence of a spatial data cube to store analysis-ready data (ARD) products for the Indian sensors’ data delimits its ready use and depreciates its value. Establishing a framework for storing, managing, and providing online processing ARD products for different sensors is necessary. The current work proposes a framework to produce ARD products by radiometrically correcting the data using the 6 S atmospheric correction and Shepherd Diamond-based terrain correction method to provide normalised surface reflectance. The generated ARD product for LISS-III shows a good correlation with the Planet Lab’s surface reflectance ARD product and an excellent correlation with the SACRS2- a Scheme for Atmospheric Correction of ResourceSat-2 corrected product. A frequency-based geometric correction algorithm provides RMSE of less than half a pixel registration error compared to LANDSAT-8 OLI orthorectified imagery. Finally, A Spatial Data Cube (SDC) with CARD4L metadata standard stores the ARD products post ingestion. The paper explains the complete integrated software development with an end-to-end processing chain of LISS III, an Indian optical sensor data.