Development of semantic data models to support data interoperability in the rail industry

Railways are large, complex systems that comprise many heterogeneous subsystems and parts. As the railway industry continues to enjoy increasing passenger and freight custom, ways of deriving greater value from the knowledge within these subsystems are increasingly sought. Interfaces to and between systems are rare, making data sharing and analysis difficult. Semantic data modelling provides a method of integrating data from disparate sources by encoding knowledge about a problem domain or world into machine-interpretable logic and using this knowledge to encode and infer data context and meaning. The uptake of this technique in the Semantic Web and Linked Data movements in recent years has provided a mature set of techniques and toolsets for designing and implementing ontologies and linked data applications. This thesis demonstrates ways in which semantic data models and OWL ontologies can be used to foster data exchange across the railway industry. It sets out a novel methodology for the creation of industrial semantic models, and presents a new set of railway domain ontologies to facilitate integration of infrastructure-centric railway data. Finally, the design and implementation of two prototype systems is described, each of which use the techniques and ontologies in solving a known problem

The patronage of Cardinal Oliviero Carafa 1430-1511

This thesis studies the patronage of an important Italian Renaissance Calrdinal, Oliviero Carafa, a topic relatively neglected in modern scholarship. It examines his patronage from a number of distinct but inter-related perspectives, namely, his position as a cardinal prince of the church, cardinal protector of the kingdom of Naples, cardinal protector of a number of religious orders, head of the Carafa clan, and patron of a variety of artists and humanist scholars. In doing so, it examines the historical evidence for Cardinal Carafals various positions within the College of Cardinals and the papal Curia and the kinds of access they afforded him to a complex patron client network which embraced not merely Rome and Maples but the whole of Italy and, Europe. It also investigates the extent and sources of his wealth as holder of multiple sacred offices and the various ways in which he ensured that his relatives shared In such benefits. In respect of Carafals role as patron of art and letters, the study analyses and assesses the significance of: Carafa's two funerary chapels (the Carafa chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome and the 'Succorpo' in Naples cathedral), his commission to Bramante for the cloister at Santa Maria della Pace in Rome, his other ecclesiastical and civic foundations, his private residences, his library, his promotion of manusgript production and printing, and his status as the recipient and dedicatee of a large number of scholarly works. As appropriate to a study of Renaissance patronage, particular emphasis is placed on those areas in which Carafa can plausibly be said to have intervened in the origination and outcome of these artistic and scholarly endeavours. In exploring these inter-related themes, the study thus throws light upon the structures and processes of Renaissance patronage in Italy. It reiterates the importance of the family as a locale for patronage and, more particularly, demonstrates how a powerfully placed ecclesiastic could contribute decisively to the family's fortunes. It also provides an insight into Renaissance patrons' strong sense of loyalty towards the place of their birth. Moving beyond Italian Renaissance patronage in general, this study also offers an opportunity to explore the more specific field of Renaissance cardinals' patronage and assesses the complex variety of patronal commitments that Renaissance cardinals characteristically undertook. Furthermore, the case of Oliviero Carafa, an ecclesiastic involved in pluralism, simony, and nepotism and yet also genuinely committed to the reform of such abuses, provides an opportunity to explore some of the moral dilemmas that patronage presented to Carafa and his contemporaries. The examination of Carafals patronage of art and letters provides emphatic endorsement of the interest and enthusiasm prevalent amongst Renaissance patrons for classical texts and artefacts. It also calls into question, however, the assumption that such cultural phenemona were motivated solely by secular appetites. Carafa's artistic commissions were preponderantly religious and therefore entirely conventional for a high-ranking orthodox ecclesiastic, Yet many of them were rendered distinctive by sustained self-conscious allusion to classical prototypes. The literary works produced under his aegis also supply an insight into the special nature of humanist endeavour in Rome where the intellectual traditions of scholasticism and theology provided a decisive input

Collected Orations of Pope Pius II. Edited and translated by Michael von Cotta-Schönberg. Vol. 1: Introduction. 6th version

International audienceDuring his career as official at the Council of Basel, as secretary and later top diplomat at the Imperial Court, as papal envoy, as cardinal, and as pope, Enea Silvio Piccolomini / Pope Pius II gave a number of orations as well as responses to ambassadors which taken together document his literary and oratorical gifts and throw valuable light on the political and ecclesiastical processes of the second third of the 15th century. Today, 80 of his orations and diplomatic responses are known to be extant, in a quite considerable number of manuscripts kept in European libraries. Of these 50 were published collectively by G.D. Mansi in 1755-1759, the only previous comprehensive edition. In the present edition, nine of Pius’ orations are published for the first time

Гласник Етнографског института САНУ 68 (2) / Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography SASA 68 (2)

Тема броја – Научни рад и род: синхронe и дијахронe перспективe (ур. Младена Прелић и Милан Томашевић) / Topic of the Issue – Academic Careers and Gender: Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives (eds. Mladena Prelić and Milan Tomašević)