“The Lord Struck Him Down by the Hand of a Female!” Baroque Artists Depicting Judith in the Renaissance

Gender themed Research Project, using the biblical story of Judith and Holofernes to examine how Baroque artists tackled representing Judith as a female figure who openly subverts the Renaissance gender norms by defeating a male. Focusing on the artists, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Orazio Gentileschi and Artemisia Gentileschi, the paper explores through visual analysis how each artist approached representing the gender issue within the biblical narrative in their artwork. The biblical narrative is discussed and two well-disseminated published articles about gender roles are reviewed. Additionally, how the Counter-Reformation and the Catholic Church’s assertive stance for the purpose of art effects how images of Judith are painted.

Law and Theory: Pre-modern and Contemporary Development of Islamic Discourse on Rebellion

Scholars have argued that the early theoretical and historical discourses concerning concepts of rebellion and political violence within Islam, specifically Sunni Islam, developed during a time of conflict within the early Islamic Community. In their quest for stability and desire for the preservation of order, early Muslim jurists used key moments in the history of the early Community, as well as doctrinal sources, in order to construct a theoretical discourse addressing rebellion and obedience to authority. Similar to the methods of the early jurists, the construction of contemporary discourses concerning obedience and rebellion have been used by modern Islamic scholars in order to confront issues involving protesting and political violence, especially as they relate to contemporary events such as socio-political movements, dissent, and notably, the Arab Uprisings. The purpose of this paper is to provide a survey of these pre-modern and contemporary discourses and how their contexts influence Islamic legal approaches.

Placing the Marginalized Ahmadiyya in Context with the Traditional Sunni Majority

This essay attempts to describe the Ahmadiyya, a persecuted minority group within Islam, according to the writings of their founder, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The Ahmadi differ from traditional Sunni Islam in three major ways: their interpretations of jihad, the person- and prophethood of Jesus Christ, and their understandings of Muhammad as the Final Prophet, which has led to accusations of apostasy. Accordingly, this essay intends to compare and contrast Ahmadi interpretations with both Qur’anic and Biblical texts in order to accurately describe where it is the Ahmadi community fits on a globalized scale. Largely ostracized due to their interpretative variances with the larger Sunni community, this essay argues that the Ahmadi, while admittedly different, must be accepted based on their similarities.

Modeling the Propensity to Default on Microloans in Mali, Africa

Microfinance is a global phenomenon that is focused on sustainable poverty alleviation. By providing people in developing countries with the capital to sustain themselves and an educational background on which to build their futures, microfinance institutions (MFIs) have given the poor an opportunity to get out of poverty. For the purposes of this study, a specific MFI in Mali Africa was utilized to model the propensity for micro-borrowers to default on their loans. Using the MFI’s historical data on each of their loans, this study models the repayment percentage of individual loans, contingent upon qualitative and quantitative factors. Employing an Ordinary Least Squares Model I am able to analyze how each independent factor influences default rates. I also harness fuzzy analysis to group together factors that contribute to high default rates. I hypothesize that high default rates were encouraged by a longer time between payments, a large initial loan size, business development in investment heavy industries, and starting a business in a hostile market environment. By utilizing these results, the MFI can optimize its loan repayment success by targeting specific borrowers and modifying their loan structure. The purpose of this study is to provide the Mali MFI with tangible results that they can utilize to increase their loaning effectiveness. This model is important because microfinance is a relatively new field and 3it seeks to improve the Mali MFI’s poverty alleviating capacity.

Coral Reefs: Challenges, Opportunities and Evolutionary Strategies for Surviving Climate Change in the Caribbean

Coral reefs are some one of the most diverse marine ecosystems on Earth. They are renowned hotspots of species biodiversity and provide home to a large array of marine plants and animals. Over the past 100 years in many tropical regions sea surface temperatures have increased by almost 1°C and are currently increasing at about 1–2°C per century. Corals have very specific thermal thresholds beyond which their temperature sensitive symbiot Zooxanthellae becomes affected and causes corals to bleach. Mass bleaching has already caused significant losses to live coral in many parts of the world. This paper looks at the key role that temperature plays in affecting the health and spatial distribution of coral in the Caribbean. The relationship between coral and symbiot is examined, in addition to some of the evolutionary strategies necessary to ensure the future survival of coral with changing climate.

Media Coverage of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling Controversy

Protected areas are often subject to legal changes that allow natural resource extraction to occur within their boundaries. It is important to understand how the media covers these legal changes in order to inform science communication, environmental policy, and practice. As a case study, the oil drilling controversy in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the largest protected area in the United States, was examined. ANWR contains both environmental and potential economic value, including billions of barrels of oil. Controversy over whether to drill in the 1002 region of ANWR has been ongoing since the late 1970s and has been covered extensively in the media. A content analysis of media coverage of US national and Alaskan local newspapers was conducted for 100 news articles. Contrary to expectations, it was found that on average, media coverage tended to focus more on reasons to oppose drilling. When comparing local and national sources, it was found that local news articles also focused more on opposition to drilling. Arguments against drilling included risk of oil spills and other damage to wildlife and the environment, native Eskimo perspectives, and uncertainty about the amount and value of oil in ANWR. This analysis may inform future studies on environmental controversies and public land, especially related to the influence of the media on political decisions.