DSpace Repository

Nazarbayev University Repository (NUR) is an institutional electronic archive designed for the long-term preservation, aggregation, and dissemination of scientific research outcomes and intellectual property produced by the Nazarbayev University community and affiliated organizations.

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001. Theses 3013
002. NU Research Publications 11761
003. NU Research Institutes & Centres 586
004. NU Journals & Magazines 279
005. Forums, Conferences & Projects 1332

Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Digitalization and government effectiveness: empirical evidence from global panel data
(Nazarbayev University School of Sciences and Humanities, 2026-05-19) Dybyspayeva, Dina; Bhowal, Rajarshi; Buliskeria, Nino
Digital transformation is increasingly promoted as a pathway to institutional modernization, with governments worldwide investing heavily in e-government infrastructure. However, evidence about the impact of technological progress on governance is rather mixed. Current research on this topic mainly relies on cross-sectional data that confound cross-country characteristics with causal mechanisms, making it difficult to understand the internal connection between technological development and governance. In this study, the hypothesis of interest is to examine if a greater degree of digitalization of governmental institutions is related to an improvement in government effectiveness, applying a global dataset of 172 countries from 2000 to 2024. The level of digitalization is measured by the E-Government Development Index (EGDI), and government effectiveness (GE) is measured by the Government Effectiveness Index collected by the World Bank. A two-way fixed effects model leverages the within-country variation over time while accounting for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity and exogenous shocks. The results reveal that there exists a positive and statistically significant effect of the development of e-government on the effectiveness of the government, although the magnitude of the coefficient falls sharply from 3.401 using pooled OLS to 0.551 using the preferred regression approach. The effects are not immediate; they occur mainly after a lag period of two years to four years. The institutional persistence coefficient of around 0.75 suggests that the effect of governance is historically rooted. Overall, results suggest that the digital revolution affects governance in an amplifying manner; hence, it is not about transforming institutions but amplifying their abilities.
Access status: Embargo ,
Genetically Modified Kluyveromyces lactis as a Novel Therapeutic Approach for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
(Nazarbayev University School of Medicine, 2026) Zhumadilova, Yana; Riethmacher, Dieter
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal system that comprises Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). While several therapeutic approaches exist, many patients demonstrate limited therapeutic response or experience undesirable side effects, underscoring the necessity for novel treatment interventions. Current research highlights the function of the gut microbiome in IBD pathogenesis, indicating that microorganisms may have therapeutic capability. Kluyveromyces lactis is a yeast typically found in milk-derived products and recognized safe for humans. Due to its probiotic potential and compatibility for genetic modification, it may serve as a basis for designing new microbiome-based treatments. This study intends to investigate the anti-inflammatory properties of genetically modified Kluyveromyces lactis in murine experimental model of IBD and evaluate its potential as a new therapeutic approach.
Access status: Open Access ,
Preserving a Poet’s Power: Translating Sholpan Imanbayeva from Kazakh to English
(Nazarbayev University School of Sciences and Humanities, 2026-04-16) Ussenkhan, Daiana
The case of Sholpan Imanbayeva remains unique in Kazakh literature and history, as she was the first female poet whose works were published in the Kazakh press, and spoke for women’s empowerment and freedom from their traditional roles in the pre-Soviet Central Asian society. However, her presence in Kazakh literature is scarcely known. In order to make the texts accessible for the readers worldwide today, my work focuses on Imanbayeva through translating her poetry from Kazakh to English. A theory, composed by Walter Benjamin, suggests that understanding the emotional register, historical context, and the role of the words used in the piece, secures the successful translation. The purpose of this project is, thus, to identify the distinct features of Imanbayeva’s style in order not to lose them in translation. Throughout the translation process, I have discovered that there are three distinct elements of Imanbayeva’s style: the traditional form of rhyme and meter, prominent in Kazakh oral literature, the frequent appearance of strong images, and the unequivocal message of the necessity of women’s empowerment, especially those of the working class. Therefore, preserving the stylistic elements of Imanbayeva's poetry required fidelity to some parts of the text and distance from the others. Balancing between replicating and altering would create a translation that is both fluent in another language and in possession of its uniqueness.
Access status: Embargo ,
Cu-doped TiO2 nanostructures for photocatalytic removal of Rhodamine B and catalytic H2 evolution
(Nazarbayev University School of Sciences and Humanities, 2026) Alkabayev, Kaiyrzhan; Atabaev, Timur
Semiconductor-based catalysis has become a promising approach to address environmental pollution and sustainable energy production. This thesis presents the synthesis, characterization, and catalytic evaluation of Cu-doped TiO2 nanostructures obtained by the solvothermal method with several copper concentrations. ICP-OES showed that the experimental copper contents (2.148% and 2.764%) were lower than the theoretical values (2.68 ± 0.01% and 5.20 ± 0.03%), indicating partial incorporation into the TiO2 lattice. SEM and TEM confirmed quasi-spherical nanoparticles (10-60 nm) with slight agglomeration typical of metal oxide nanomaterials. HR-TEM analysis revealed lattice spacings corresponding to the TiO2 anatase phase (101), confirming the preservation of the crystal structure during doping. X-ray diffraction analysis also confirmed that both samples crystallize in the anatase phase. XPS analysis revealed the presence of Ti+4 and significantly reduced copper particles (Cu0/Cu+) without Cu2+ satellite peaks. The BET analysis demonstrated mesoporous structures with type IV isotherms with H2 hysteresis loops. Sample A had a higher surface area (110.7 m2/g) than Sample B (94.9 m2/g), while increased copper content led to larger pore size and volume. Optical studies have shown a decrease in the band gap from 3.14 eV (Sample A) to 2.93 eV (Sample B) due to an increase in the copper content. Rhodamine B degradation reached 81.18% for Sample B, representing the best performance, attributed to its reduced band gap. This may lead to enhanced generation of hydroxyl radicals from H2O2. Experiments on hydrogen evolution confirmed the increased catalytic activity of Cu-doped TiO2 samples compared with pure NaBH4. Sample B also exhibited the best performance in hydrogen evolution. Activation energy calculations showed values of 43.94 ± 0.48 kJ/mol (Sample A), 56.26 ± 8.13 kJ/mol (Sample B), and 30.4 ± 7.35 kJ/mol for pure NaBH4. These results highlight the potential of optimized Cu-doped TiO2 as an efficient and multifunctional catalyst. Current and future research, including detailed hydrogen evolution measurements and structural analysis, aims to further elucidate the relationship between synthesis condition and catalytic activity.
Access status: Open Access ,
Ideas, Institutions, And Regionalism: Kazakhstan’s Shifting Narrative Within The Eurasian Economic Union?
(Nazarbayev University School of Sciences and Humanities, 2026-05-06) Sharipov, Eldar; Savevska, Maja; Joldybayeva, Elmira
This thesis examines how Kazakhstan's presidential discourse has constructed, justified, and adapted its relationship with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) across a baseline period of 2019-2021, and in response to two major shocks - the January 2022 protests and the February 2022 Russia-Ukraine war. To investigate this, the study employs Discursive Institutionalism (DI), as developed by Vivien A. Schmidt, and analyses a corpus of official speeches, presidential addresses, EAEU summit statements, and high-level policy documents, supplemented by triangulated evidence from administrative responses and limited elite interviews. The central argument is that Kazakhstan's presidential discourse has not undergone an abrupt policy reversal but rather a emerging pattern of discursive shift: a gradual but analytically observable reframing of EAEU membership away from integrationist and neo-Eurasianist language toward pragmatic-sovereign discourse, emphasising economic functionalism, institutional equality, and Kazakhstan's role as an autonomous connectivity hub. Drawing on Discursive Institutionalism, where discourse is understood as both the representation of ideas and the interactive process through which political actors communicate and legitimize them, the study focuses specifically on communicative discourse that is, the public-facing articulation of policy ideas by political leaders directed toward broader audiences. In this sense, presidential discourse is treated not as a derivative reflection of internal policy coordination, but as an independent site of agency through which institutional constraints are actively reframed and presented as sovereign political choices. The thesis contributes to the application of Discursive Institutionalism in Central Asia and demonstrates the analytical value of combining presidential communicative discourse with administrative communication data.