Department of History

Ashoka University is a private university located in Sonipat, Haryana, India, focusing on liberal arts and sciences. It was established in 2014.&nbsp;It is guided by an academic council of academics and scholars from around the world. The council sets the university&#39;s academic standard, advising on matters of curriculum, faculty hiring and research.&nbsp;

Ashoka University offers a full-time 3 (+ 1) year undergraduate programme. The University comprises of&nbsp;2500 plus students, with a mix of both national and international students.&nbsp; &nbsp;

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Ashoka University

We define a generalized model for three-stranded DNA consisting of two chains of one type and a third chain of a different type. The DNA strands are modeled by random walks on the three-dimensional cubic lattice with different interactions between two chains of the same type and two chains of different types. This model may be thought of as a classical analog of the quantum three-body problem. In the quantum situation, it is known that three identical quantum particles will form a triplet with an infinite tower of bound states at the point where any pair of particles would have zero binding energy. The phase diagram is mapped out, and the different phase transitions are examined using finite-size scaling. We look particularly at the scaling of the DNA model at the equivalent Efimov point for chains up to 10 000 steps in length. We find clear evidence of several bound states in the finite-size scaling. We compare these states with the expected Efimov behavior. © 2021 Author(s).

Department of Physics

World University root node

Fulltext

Journal of Chemical Physics

Efimov-DNA phase diagram: Three stranded DNA on a cubic lattice

COVID-19 testing across India uses a mix of two types of tests. Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) are relatively inexpensive point-of-care lateral-flow-assay tests, but they are also less sensitive. The reverse-transcriptase polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) test has close to 100% sensitivity and specificity in a laboratory setting, but delays in returning results, as well as increased costs relative to RATs, may vitiate this advantage. India-wide, about 49% of COVID-19 tests are RATs, but some Indian states, including the large states of Uttar Pradesh (pop. 227.9 million) and Bihar (pop. 121.3 million) use a much higher proportion of such tests. Here we show, using simulations based on epidemiological network models, that the judicious use of RATs can yield epidemiological outcomes comparable to those obtained through RT-PCR-based testing and isolation of positives, provided a few conditions are met. These are (a) that RAT test sensitivity is not too low, (b) that a reasonably large fraction of the population, of order 0.5% per day, can be tested, (c) that those testing positive are isolated for a sufficient duration, and that (d) testing is accompanied by other non-pharmaceutical interventions for increased effectiveness. We assess optimal testing regimes, taking into account test sensitivity and specificity, background seroprevalence and current test pricing. We find, surprisingly, that even 100% RAT test regimes should be acceptable, from both an epidemiological as well as a economic standpoint, provided the conditions outlined above are met. Copyright: © 2021 Cherian et al.

PLoS Computational Biology

Optimizing testing for COVID-19 in India

We prove decorrelation estimates for generalized lattice Anderson models on Zd constructed with finite-rank perturbations in the spirit of Klopp [12]. These are applied to prove that the local eigenvalue statistics ! ωE and ! ωE0 , associated with two energies E and E0 in the localization region and satisfying jE E0j > 4d, are independent. That is, if I; J are two bounded intervals, the random variables ! ωE.I / and ! ωE0.J /, are independent and distributed according to a compound Poisson distribution whose Levy measure has finite support. We also prove that the extended Minami estimate implies that the eigenvalues in the localization region have multiplicity at most the rank of the perturbation. The method of proof contains new ingredients that simplify the proof of the rank one case [12, 19, 21], extends tomodels forwhich the eigenvalues are degenerate, and applies tomodels forwhich the potential is not sign definite [20] in dimensions d > 1. © 2021 European Mathematical Society.

Department of Mathematics

Journal of Spectral Theory

Decorrelation estimates for random Schrödinger operators with non rank one perturbations

Despite multiple approaches over the last several decades to harmonize conservation and development goals in the tropics, forest-dependent households remain the poorest in the world. Durable housing and alternatives to fuelwood for cooking are critical needs to reduce multi-dimensional poverty. These improvements also potentially reduce pressure on forests and alleviate forest degradation. We test this possibility in dry tropical forests of the Central Indian Highlands where tribal and other marginalized populations rely on forests for energy, construction materials, and other livelihood needs. Based on a remotely sensed measure of forest degradation and a 5000 household survey of forest use, we use machine learning (causal forests) and other statistical methods to quantify treatment effects of two improved living standards—alternatives to fuelwood for cooking and non-forest-based housing material—on forest degradation in 1, 2, and 5 km buffers around 500 villages. Both improved living standards had significant treatment effects (−0.030 ± 0.078, −0.030 ± 0.023, 95% CI), respectively, with negative values indicating less forest degradation, within 1 km buffers around villages. Treatment effects were lower with increasing distance from villages. Results suggest that improved living standards can both reduce forest degradation and alleviate poverty. Forest restoration efforts can target improved living standards for local communities without conflicts over land tenure or taking land out of production to plant trees. © 2021 The Authors. Biotropica published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation.

Department of Environmental Studies

Biotropica

Improved household living standards can restore dry tropical forests

We study the properties of stationary G-chains in terms of their generating functions. In particular, we prove an analogue of the Szego limit theorem for symplectic eigenvalues, derive an expression for the entropy rate of stationary quantum Gaussian processes, and study the distribution of symplectic eigenvalues of truncated block Toeplitz matrices. We also introduce a concept of symplectic numerical range, analogous to that of numerical range, and study some of its basic properties, mainly in the context of block Toeplitz operators. © 2021 European Mathematical Society Publishing House. All rights reserved.

A Szego type theorem and distribution of symplectic eigenvalues

The effect of an aggregate economic shock on human capital formation is theoretically ambiguous. When real wages fall during a recession, households face both a drop in their real incomes, as well as lower wages in available jobs. The impacts, particularly in the long run, on educational attainment and labour market outcomes is uncertain. I exploit the heterogeneous impact of an economic recession as measured by the variation in rice price increases to find that, for net consumers of rice, higher rice price increases are associated with small declines in school participation for younger children, who have limited labour market opportunities, and large declines in employment for older children, who face higher opportunity costs of schooling. The results are reversed for net producers of rice. The fall in wages protects older children from suffering adverse long-run consequences to their educational attainment. However, children who face higher wages during critical junctures in their schooling are more likely to start working and face reductions in human capital investments. These differences in investments have significant long-term effects on later-life income, employment status and sector of employment. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Department of Economics

Journal of Development Studies

The Long Run Impact of a Macroeconomic Crisis on Schooling Outcomes

Experience, it is widely agreed, constrains our thinking and is also thoroughly theory-laden. But how can it constrain our thinking while depending on what it purports to constrain? To address this issue, I revisit and carefully analyze the account of (scientific) observation provided by Norwood Russell Hanson, who introduced the term ‘theory-ladenness of observation’ in the first place. I show that Hanson’s account provides an original and coherent response to the initial question and argue that, if suitably developed, his account provides a distinctive, powerful, and attractive alternative to relationalist and standard representationalist conceptions of experience. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.

Department of Philosophy

Synthese

Norwood Russell Hanson’s account of experience: an untimely defense

Sustainable Development (SD) is the universal essentiality of present times, and universities have a critical role in implementing this initiative through their functioning, policies and prac-tices. To integrate SD goals, universities should have a global outlook that is still locally rooted in its strategies. In the last decade, various theories and recommendations have been proposed and adopted globally for integrating sustainability in higher education systems. In India, environmental education has been mandated at all formal levels in the education system. Still, there is a strong argument that it is not simply a matter of overhauling syllabi and curricula. Instead, universities should be incorporating SD goals into their research and their own operations. Our study aims to investigate the sustainability model of Ashoka University (India) that approaches its commitment through sustainability‐focused courses, research, and operations. This study involves an in‐depth literature review and uses an established framework to assess the condition of the university towards sustainability issues. Our case study employed observations, data collections, document re-views, and interactions with different stakeholders. The study concludes that the university is mostly in adherence with the framework at this stage. Critical areas of future development within the framework are proposed considering the global context. This research serves as an entry point for evaluating sustainability issues of the Indian higher education system, and hopes to motivate higher education communities to do further research to improve their sustainability performance and their role as agents of change. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Department of Biology

Sustainability (Switzerland)

Building sustainable societies through purpose‐driven universities: A case study from ashoka university (India)

Department of International Relations

International Studies

Decolonizing International Relations: Confronting Erasures through Indigenous Knowledge Systems

We consider a large population of firms in a market environment. The firms are divided into a finite set of types, with each type being characterized by a distinct private cost function. Moreover, the firms generate an external cost like pollution in the production process. As a result, the Nash equilibrium outcome is not socially optimal. We propose an evolutionary implementation mechanism to achieve the socially optimal outcome. In contrast to the classical VCG mechanism, evolutionary implementation does not require the planner to know or elicit any private information from firms. By imposing a tax equal to the current external damage being imposed by a firm, the planner can guide the evolution of the society toward the social optimum. The imposition of the tax generates a potential game whose potential function is the social welfare function of the model. Evolutionary dynamics converge to the maximizer of this function thereby evolutionarily implementing the social welfare maximizer.