John Cabot University ScholarShip
Not a member yet
907 research outputs found
Sort by
Floored! Papal Pavement Choices: 1492-1521
No full textMaster of Arts in Art History -- John Cabot University, Spring 2025.The pavements chosen for the Apostolic Palace by Popes Alexander VI, Julius II, and Leo X during the period of 1492 to 1521 will be examined. These choices in papal pavements, between cosmatesque and maiolica, are set against the backdrop of rapidly changing architectural taste in pre-Sack Rome defined by the resurgence of antiquity in the form of spoliation and the popularization of the grotesque. Although the genre of architectural terracotta was not new, it was expanded upon and popularized as European maiolica reached new technological heights. Thus, the decisive choice to pave palace rooms with maiolica tiles is one that demonstrates the taste of the elite and the worldliness of the pope as influenced by expanding global trade networks. The pavements of the Roman palazzi inhabited by the popes prior to their ascension will be analyzed alongside those of the Apostolic Palace to gain a greater understanding of tastes in pavements
Spiritualism to Experience: Anselm Kiefer’s Venice Cycle
No full textThesis (B.A. in Art History)--John Cabot University, Spring 2025.This thesis explores the nexus between Anselm Kiefer’s recent spiritual works and the experiential turn in exhibition strategies, analyzing as its case study Anselm Kiefer: Questi scritti, quando verranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po ’ di luce (Andrea Emo) exhibited at the Palazzo Ducale in 2022. Focusing particularly on the Jacob’s Ladder canvas of the cycle, the thesis considers the issues of cyclical history, temporality, and myth that preoccupy much of the scholarship surrounding Kiefer’s œuvre; however, these themes are analyzed through the framework of intermediality. Consideration of the thematic and spiritual connotations within Kiefer’s materiality are not limited to his creative process, therefore, but also applied to the expanded field of the viewer and their metaphysical“ experience.” While engaging with previous decades of scholarship on Kiefer (particularly Andreas Huyssen, Matthew Biro, and Lisa Saltzman), this thesis will shift away from the preoccupation of his art as a reworking of national history and memory, while also avoiding the ambivalent claims that his post-1990 spiritualism is merely universalist transcendent ritual. Rather, in considering certain of Kiefer’s monumental, immersive installations over recent years,1 I aim to reveal that these exhibitions ’ leitmotif of transhistorical, mythical origins increasingly positions Kiefer as the stager of “spiritual experiences,” reconciled and enacted in the individual viewer. Until now, the spiritual content of his work has not yet been thoroughly examined, but rather used as a segue to discuss other issues (often returning to German identity after the Holocaust). Focusing on the intermedial conduits between the artist’s creative process, alchemical connotations of materiality, and the viewer’s act of co-creation through signification, I rely specifically on Dorothea von Hantelmann’s conception of the experiential turn to inform these relationships. My methodology presents another viewpoint from which to consider Kiefer’s constantly expanding corpus of pseudo-religious mystical works in order to clarify some of his ambiguities without attempting to assign meaning to his recent production. Lastly, this thesis questions whether Kiefer’s shift into experiential, monumental qualities of art are a natural extension of his earlier practice, or a calculated repositioning of his artistic enterprise within today’s “experience” society, implicitly suggesting the issue of cultural relevance for an aging artist. The methodology employed will, like extensive scholarship surrounding Kiefer since the 1980s, necessarily engage with post-modern “memory work,” however this will now be applied to his syncretic spiritualism concerning human origins rather than to specific questions of German national identity. It will also engage with curatorial strategies, demanding a thorough examination of press releases, interviews, exhibition catalogues, and the artist’s own publications and correspondences with curators, in an attempt to reveal the current climate of artist production, reception, and designed viewer engagement. This thesis therefore reframes the relevance of Kiefer’s art by inquiring whether the existential nature of his Venice Cycle can function as a cultural commentary—or whether its syncretic spiritual experience serves as a commodified response to the 21st-century experiential turn in museum and curatorial strategies
AI Regulatory Fragmentation and MNE Strategy: Evidence from Microsoft, Salesforce, and Oracle
No full textThis thesis examines how fragmentation in artificial intelligence (AI) regulation affects international business strategy in Software as a Service (SaaS) firms. It compares Microsoft, Salesforce, and Oracle to show how regulatory divergence between the European Union and the United States shapes choices to standardize or adapt data architectures, AI products, and governance. Using a qualitative multiple case design, the study analyzes company reports, technical documentation, and selective secondary sources from 2023–2025. This analysis is done through the theoretical framework of standardization versus adaptation theory and contingency theory. The findings show that all three firms localize data architecture over product features or governance. Microsoft and Salesforce follow hybrid strategies as they keep a global AI product and governance core, while adding EU specific data residency, routing, and controls. Oracle instead follows a fully adapted strategy through an isolated EU sovereign cloud.
Across cases, data sensitivity and compliance risk are the main factors that push firms toward hybrid or fully adapted responses, while strong infrastructure control reduces the cost of deeper localization.
Overall, the study shows that AI regulatory fragmentation reshapes the standardization vs adaptation trade-off and that hybrid, data centric adaptation is an effective strategy for global SaaS firms under emerging fragmented AI regimes
Advancing Toward P6 Medicine: Recommendations for Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Internal Medicine
No full textBackground: Internists formulate diagnostic hypotheses and personalized treatment plans by integrating data from a comprehensive clinical interview, reviewing a patient’s medical history, physical examination and
findings from complementary tests. The patient treatment life cycle
generates a significant volume of data points that can offer valuable insights to improve patient care by guiding clinical decision-making. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, in particular, Generative AI (GAI), are promising tools in this regard, particularly after the introduction of Large Language Models. The European Federation of Internal Medicine (EFIM) recognizes the transformative impact of AI in leveraging clinical data and advancing the field of internal medicine. This position paper from the EFIM explores how AI can be applied to achieve the goals of P6 Medicine principles in internal medicine. P6 Medicine is an advanced healthcare model that extends the concept of Personalized Medicine toward a holistic, predictive, patient-centered approach that also integrates psycho-cognitive and socially responsible dimensions. An additional concept introduced is that of Digital Therapies (DTx), software applications designed to prevent and manage diseases and disorders through AI, which are used in the clinical setting if validated by rigorous research studies.
Methods: The literature examining the relationship between AI and Internal Medicine was investigated through a bibliometric analysis. The themes identified in the literature review were further examined through the Delphi method. Thirty international AI and Internal Medicine experts constituted the Delphi panel.
Results: Delphi results were summarized in a SWOT Analysis. The evidence is that through extensive data analysis, diagnostic capacity, drug development and patient tracking are increased.
Conclusions: The panel unanimously considered AI in Internal Medicine as an opportunity, achieving a complete consensus on the matter. AI-driven solutions, including clinical applications of GAI and DTx, hold the potential to strongly change internal medicine by streamlining workflows, enhancing patient care and generating valuable data
Do Conditional Cash Transfers Deliver? An Empirical Assessment of Argentina’s ‘Progresar’ Program
No full textMaster of Arts in International Affairs -- John Cabot University, Fall 2025.Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs), particularly educational scholarships, are widely used by governments to promote school enrollment, retention, and completion among socioeconomically disadvantaged students, but their effectiveness depends on critically assessing their durability, scope, and contextual variation. This study evaluates whether students who received Argentina’s "Progresar" scholarship between 2018 and 2020 achieved higher school completion rates, using a Difference-in- Differences (DiD) model to measure the program’s impact. The analysis shows that, despite the program’s potential and supporting evidence in the literature,its measurable effect on educational outcomes lasted only one year, raising questions about the value of short-term evaluations and the heterogeneity of impacts across cities. By identifying the program’s limited duration of effectiveness, the study contributes evidence to inform the design of more robust and context-sensitive educational policies
The Travels of Herakles and the Glory of Venice: Mythical Symbolism and Political Identity in the Basilica San Marco
No full textThesis (B.A. in Art History, Minor in Classical Studies)--John Cabot University, Fall 2025.The basilica of San Marco is a unique example of a multi-generational and culturally syncretic monument in the medieval period. On the west façade of this important civic monument is a thirteencentury marble relief of the mythological hero Herakles, a figure central to both classical and medieval visual traditions. While the basilica has been studied extensively, the Herakles relief has rarely been examined as an independent subject. Scholars have interpreted the presence of Herakles on the façade as an assimilation to Christ, as a Byzantine icon, or as an articulation of Venetian state ideology, as an exemplum virtutis. Yet, there is a lack of consideration of the Herakles’ relief as deliberately fabricated in the thirteenth-century to evoke antiquity and serve ideological purposes within Venice’s broader program of civic mythmaking and political legitimization. More specifically, the relief may be viewed in the aftermath of the loss of Constantinople of 1261, when Venice, under Doge Ranieri Zeno, responded with the embellishment of San Marco’s façades, incorporating both spolia and pseudo-spolia to assert continuity with its fabricated classical past and reinforce its imperial identity. This study will interpret the thirteenth-century Herakles as a work of pseudo-spolia, and compare it to its fifth-century counterpart still on the west façade, and the late eleventh-century relief of Alexander the Great on the north façade. One of its goals is to explore how Venice recontextualized classical heroes within Christian civic frameworks. It will be argued that this was a strategy specifically positioned to communicate resilience following the loss of territory, divine favor, and cultural negotiation, transforming the basilica into an expression of the “myth of Venice.” This thesis situates the relief within the political and artistic landscape of mid- thirteenth-century Venice, particularly under Doge Ranieri Zeno, whose urban innovations reshaped the basilica and piazza into ceremonial spaces echoing Byzantine grandeur. By examining the relief’s iconography, spatial placement, and stylistic features, this study reveals how pseudo-spolia functioned not as a deception but as a deliberate tool of cultural memory and visual rhetoric. Ultimately, the Herakles relief exemplifies Venice’s strategy of fabricating a civic past rooted in antiquity, and asserts its role as a sovereign power through the medieval Italian-city-state tradition which transforms myth into public art
Transforming Ceasefires: The Legal and Institutional Foundations of Sustainable Peace
No full textThesis (B.A. in International Affairs, Minor in Legal Studies)--John Cabot University, Fall 2025.This thesis examines why ceasefire agreements, despite their central role in halting violence and facilitating diplomatic engagement, often collapse shortly after their implementation. Although international humanitarian law and the United Nations Charter provide extensive regulation of armed conflict, no comparable legal or institutional framework regulates ceasefires themselves. This gap raises the central research question: can international law evolve from regulating the conduct of war to codifying the maintenance of peace through structured, enforceable ceasefire mechanisms? To explore this question, the study employs doctrinal legal analysis combined with comparative case studies of four conflicts: the India-Pakistan ceasefire along the Line of Control, Gaza-Israel ceasefire arrangements between 2008 and 2025, the Colombian government’s ceasefire with the FARC, and repeated ceasefire failures in Sudan. Each case is examined through two criteria: the clarity and legal precision of ceasefire obligations, and the strength of institutional oversight monitoring and enforcing compliance. Findings across the cases reveal a consistent pattern. Ceasefires lacking standardized procedures, independent monitoring, or credible enforcement mechanisms are prone to rapid failure. The Gaza-Israel and Sudan cases illustrate how power symmetry, fragmented command structures, and political interference undermine ceasefire stability. By contrast, relatively successful ceasefire in Kashmir and Colombia demonstrate that durable implementation depends on robust institutional support, whether through United Nations monitoring missions or inclusive negotiation frameworks supported by political will and domestic capacity. Based on these insights, the thesis argues that ceasefires should be reconceptualized as legally codified and institutionally supervised processes, not merely temporary political pauses. It proposes a dual framework: (1) establishing standardized legal guidelines that define obligations, procedures, verification standards, and consequences for violations; and (2) creating impartial monitoring and enforcement bodies under international or regional authority to ensure compliance. The thesis concludes that while no legal structure can resolve deep-rooted political disputes, a coherent and enforceable ceasefire framework would significantly reduce conflict relapses, improve civilian protection, and strengthen long-term international peace and security
Spectacle and Society: Mythological Wall Paintings in the Tablinum of Houses at Pompeii and Herculaneum
No full textTreatments of Time and Space in the Early Gothic and Dark Romanticism
No full textThesis (B.A. in English Language and Literature)--John Cabot University, Spring 2025.This thesis argues that while the Early Gothic, represented by Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto and Ann Radcliffe’s The Italian, is concerned with irrational, tyrannical forces of the past being defeated by rational heroes of the present, Dark Romanticism, represented by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, portrays the fallibility of reason in modernity. This thesis will investigate the way the Gothic novel evolves in its representation of time, space, and place
Asymmetric Information, Big Data, and Algorithmic Economic Decision-Making: A Simple Lesson on the Consequences for Statistical Discrimination and Civil Liberties
No full textThe information age of big data has increased the use of predictive data analytics for decision-making, leading to complex societal and legal debates with respect to statistical discrimination and the protection of civil liberties. This paper presents a simple pedagogic narrative in the context of asymmetric information. Students walk through a predictive-algorithmic decision-making process by a principal and agent. A simple predictive algorithm is constructed that leads to statistical discrimination and incentivizes principals to acquire more information confronting civil liberties of the right to privacy and protection from unnecessary surveillance. The lesson can be applied to labor, financial, and insurance markets