On historical gazetteers

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Humphrey Southall ◽  
Ruth Mostern ◽  
Merrick Lex Berman
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Web ◽  
Data Models ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Spatial Context ◽  
Cultural Meaning ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Administrative Units ◽  
Over Time

Gazetteers play an important but largely unsung role in historical research, used with maps to help place people and events in spatial context. Recent years have seen new interest in digital gazetteers as bridges between the geospatial web and the semantic web, but many existing digital gazetteers and data models do not meet the needs of historians, as they focus on physiographic landforms rather than places of cultural meaning or administrative units. Historical researchers need to know about places whose locations are not knowable with certainty. They need to know about alternative names for places, about how names have evolved over time, and the specific historical contexts in which names were used. While GIS researchers propose temporal gazetteers, which will somehow include the precise dates at which features were created and removed, we propose historical gazetteers in which dates appear mainly in order to help reference particular instances of place names. Longer term, we need cultural gazetteers or toponymic encyclopedias that describe places as well as locate them.

Jesus Christ

2021 ◽  
pp. 672-688
Author(s):  
Simon Francis Gaine
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Medieval Theology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time

Historical research has confirmed that there can be no doubt of the importance of Jesus Christ to Aquinas’ faith, devotion, and theological enterprise. This scholarship has exposed the faults of unsympathetic portrayals of his Christology as docetic or Monophysite, and presented his doctrine of the incarnation afresh, particularly by manifesting its distinctiveness in context and its maturation over time. In this way Aquinas’ Christology has been made available for reception in contemporary Christology in a way that goes beyond the recounting of the history of medieval theology. For those who share his confession of faith, the tasks of contemporary Christology can benefit from the enduring worth of many of his conclusions, the arguments employed, and his organization of material. Such a reception can retrieve a sense of fundamental continuity in Christology, of how Christ is unlike as well as like us, and of the bearing this has on our salvation.

Ontology Versioning Driven by Instance Evolution in the τOWL Framework

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zouhaier Brahmia ◽  
Fabio Grandi ◽  
Abir Zekri ◽  
Rafik Bouaziz
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Web ◽  
Real World ◽  
Ontology Construction ◽  
Web Based ◽  
The Real ◽  
Initial Design ◽  
Design Time ◽  
Schema Versioning ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time

Like other components of Semantic Web-based applications, ontologies are evolving over time to reflect changes in the real world. Several of these applications require keeping a full-fledged history of ontology changes so that both ontology instance versions and their corresponding ontology schema versions are maintained. Updates to an ontology instance could be non-conservative that is leading to a new ontology instance version no longer conforming to the current ontology schema version. If, for some reasons, a non-conservative update has to be executed, in spite of its consequence, it requires the production of a new ontology schema version to which the new ontology instance version is conformant so that the new ontology version produced by the update is globally consistent. In this paper, we first propose an approach that supports ontology schema changes which are triggered by non-conservative updates to ontology instances and, thus, gives rise to an ontology schema versioning driven by instance updates. Note that in an engineering perspective, such an approach can be used as an incremental ontology construction method driven by the modification of instance data, whose exact structure may not be completely known at the initial design time. After that, we apply our proposal to the already established [Formula: see text]OWL (Temporal OWL 2) framework, which allows defining and evolving temporal OWL 2 ontologies in an environment that supports temporal versioning of both ontology instances and ontology schemas, by extending it to also support the management of non-conservative updates to ontology instance versions. Last, we show the feasibility of our approach by dealing with its implementation within a new release of the [Formula: see text] OWL-Manager tool.

Features and Limitations of Ontologies for Coronavirus Data Management in Libraries

2021 ◽  
pp. 18-40
Author(s):  
Enrique Wulff
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Web ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Semantic Data ◽  
Important Quality ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Or Applications

The purpose of this chapter is to follow the evolution of what has occurred over time in the ontologies published in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Correctness and completeness of ontologies on the schema and instance level are important quality criteria in their selection for an application. To help both the librarians and the users, there is a need of a framework for the comparison of different semantic data sources in the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, online services and/or applications based on ontologies or SKOS-based COVID-19 thesauri are still rare. As an emerging technology in libraries, an all-integrating ontology for coronavirus disease knowledge and data refers to the continuing development of an existing technology. In spite of using ontologies in the Semantic Web, meanings of concepts and relationships are still largely unrealized in terms of obtaining accurate and timely information about COVID-19. But the nature of causal relationships on this disease is made accessible through ontologies as the material in which its main concepts are supported.

Dialectic textual negotiation

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-435
Author(s):  
Gadi Taub ◽  
Michal Hamo
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Religious Vision ◽  
Ideological Tensions ◽  
Ideological Change ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Discursive Resources

The present study proposes a discourse-immanent view (following Wodak 2001) of political manifestos, examining them as sites for textually negotiating tensions and paradoxes, rather than focusing on their persuasive aspects. This approach is applied to the analysis of two founding documents of the Israeli religious settlers’ movement, where tensions between religious vision and actual politics have increased over time. Findings indicate that in the first manifesto (1974), discursive resources (temporality, point of view construction and terms of reference) are strategically used to contain tensions and maintain the movement’s dialectical vision of the relations between religion and politics. By contrast, the second manifesto (1980) exhibits simpler textual patterns which forgo this dialectical commitment, reflecting the eroding ability to textually reconcile ideological tensions as challenges to the movement’s vision grow. This is discussed as demonstrating the utility of discourse analysis for historical research in providing micro-evidence for the emergence of ideological change.

Analyzing changes in oncology trial records over time using automated semantic web-mining.

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e13073-e13073
Author(s):  
David J Cocker ◽  
Johanna Caroline Lievens ◽  
Kristof Geentjens ◽  
Piet Van Remortel ◽  
Mireille De Cre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Semantic Web ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Web Mining ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Differential Analysis ◽  
Clinical Trial Registries ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Over Time

e13073 Background: Incorrect assumptions and poor feasibility are often cited as the major cause of study delay and outcome resolution. Trial placement and recruitment can be optimized by monitoring and regular assessment of trial registries. However, just a snapshot analysis does not take into account retrospective editing of records. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a robotic, semantic analysis of registered oncology trials to assess individual changes in trial records over time. Methods: Evaluating individual trial records from 2008 to 2012 with state-of-the art natural language processing and semantic linking of data fields within clinical trial registries and literature databases to add increased resolution to erroneous or inadequate registry fields. Results: Substantial modifications are made to registration records over the life cycle of a clinical trial. Quantifiable fields as recruitment, site numbers and end dates all deviate significantly from the study roll-out. Analysis of oncology trials recruiting over 200 patients between 2008 and 2012 shows two thirds of trials deviate from the initial record. Most frequently study end date is delayed (about 50% of all trials) or enrollment targets are amended (at least 25%). Over all oncology indications, enrollment increases are twice more frequent as decreases. However, there are notable exceptions such as lung cancer, where enrollment is frequently decreased. A differential analysis of countries and sites in commercial oncology phase III trials over the period revealed a marked shift of research to sites in France, Spain, the UK and China. However, when sites were added to ongoing trials this general trend was not entirely followed as Poland, Japan, Belgium, Argentina and Switzerland were frequently chosen as additional countries above the normal distribution, suggesting these are preferred countries for trial “rescue”. Conclusions: This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of automated semantic web-mining to identify incorrect clinical trial assumptions and subsequent remediation.

scholarly journals Hocken: Prince of Collectors

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.E. Traue
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Medical Practice ◽  
Medical Practitioner ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University ◽  
Over Time

Dr Thomas Morland Hocken (1836-1910), born and trained as a medical practitioner in Britain, settled in Dunedin in 1862 and built a very successful medical practice. He soon began researching early New Zealand history and by 1880 was delivering public lectures on the subject. At a time when there were no publicly available collections of primary sources or publications relating to New Zealand in the country, and where the best resources for historical research were in London, Hocken began collecting ephemera, maps, newspapers, pamphlets and books, paintings and drawings, seeking out and copying original documents and saving the reminiscences of old colonists to support his research and publications. Over time his collecting became more comprehensive and he turned his attention to creating a full bibliographical record of New Zealand publications, culminating in the publication of A Bibliography of the Literature Relating to New Zealand in 1908. His last act was to gift his collection to the nation to be held in trust by the University of Otago and available for anyone with a definite purpose of study. 

scholarly journals Advances in Classification Research Online 2013 Classification, Ontology, and the Semantic Web

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick Szostak
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Semantic Web ◽  
Classification System ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
Minimal Set ◽  
Formal Ontologies ◽  
Over Time

The Semantic Web is developing slowly, but arguably surely. Two inter-related sources of delay are network effects and ontologies. The Semantic Web has come over time to rely onformal ontologies but there are many of these and they are each hard to master. The ability to link databases is compromised by the use of incompatible ontologies. But the RDF triplet format at the centre of the Semantic Web insists only on triplets of the form (object) (predicate orproperty) (subject). This paper explores the potential for a classification system that contains these three types of hierarchies (things, predicates, properties), plus a minimal set of rules on how they can be combined, to serve the needsof the Semantic Web. To this end, it surveys theroles (both the intended roles and side-effects) that formal ontologies play within the Semantic Web. The paper also briefly reviews the challenges faced in applying existing classification systems or thesauri to the Semantic Web.<br />

La responsabilità morale dello storico

2009 ◽  
pp. 116-126
Author(s):  
Bronislaw Baczko
Keyword(s):  
Historical Research ◽  
Social Awareness ◽  
Moral Code ◽  
Individual Action ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
Principle Of Relativity ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
Over Time

- Historical knowledge is tied in a thousand ways to the anxieties, conflicts, to antinomies and to the demands of our era. It is in the name of our present that interrogates the past. It possesses a degree of expressive character: voicing the present where one is born and lives. So, therefore the historian is not an impartial and static observer of the past and the ever-dominate present. He must remain in the perspective of the present-day and the historical moment in which he lives. But no «present» is ever really finished. One might think that no moral code is consistent with the principle of relativity of knowledge, that the researcher is inevitably partial and runs the risk of deformation and ideological sublimation. It may also be that history has taken a far too long function of magistra vitae in social awareness. It does not seem to arouse any distrust towards our time. In fact, the disproportion between the anonymous «fate» on one side - the decisions bearing on the existence of humanity and its future destiny - and, on the other hand, the possibility of individual action is today such that history seems pointless for the rationalization of the present. The attitude towards historical knowledge is also influenced by the fact that it is a subject far too easy to exploit and manipulate by power and propaganda, penalizing values often variable and contradictory. The historical-humanist has often been reduced to the role of technical - propagandist. In his research, he cannot make «partial» choices between true and false. The awareness of the relativity of values and of their variability over time, does not change anything in the absolute moral character of historical research. The total moral responsibility of the historian cannot be relieved by anyone. An historian, precisely, must explore the past to get to the truth; he is morally obligated and has no right to falsify.Key words: present, pass, historical knowledge, "to be a historian", responsibility, relativism, moral code.Parole chiave: presente, passato, conoscenza storica, "essere uno storico", responsabilità, relativismo, codice morale.

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