• Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage
• 2012-2021close
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As the First World War shattered the old empires, Orthodox Christians in former imperial territories faced a dilemma. Should they remain loyal to their Russian “Mother Church,” from which they were...

We provide evidence that when more than half of a firm’s voting shareholders disapprove of the executive pay plan, the spillover effects are significantly positive for peers of non-financial firms and significantly negative for peers of financial firms. The valuation effects are positively related to equity-based compensation and negatively related to cash-based and excess compensation. The no-votes are also associated with significant changes in compensation in the following year. In general, peer firms take action to align compensation with shareholder interests by lowering cash-based pay, increasing equity-based pay, and reducing excess compensation. Financial firms lower equity-based and excess compensation, suggesting they may alter pay in a manner that reduces regulatory pressure and the perception of CEO overpayment. Our results show far reaching effects from say-on-pay regulations, where even peer firms feel pressure to change their compensation following a no-vote.

Automated extraction of semantic information from textual descriptions can be implemented by processing results of application of Stanford CoreNLP tools. This paper presents a sequence of processing steps and initial results of their application for two examples of a description of system’s functionality. The processing steps allow identifying main functional characteristics of the system and its operational domain. Results obtained as a result of application of the steps are compared with data obtained as a result of analysis by a developer. Application of Stanford CoreNLP parsers in certain cases can produce errors and can influence results of further processing. The comparison of the two results sets showed that variability of language constructs in descriptions affects an amount of implicitly expressed knowledge. Nevertheless, results of this research can be used as a start point of automated text processing for creation of analysis models.

The main museums in Estonia and Latvia have lately staged new exhibitions that proceed from a contemporary museological approach and reflect the results of historical research. The article compares three cases which present alternative but complementary interpretations of the Soviet period. The authors pay special attention to the application of the biographical method prominent in contemporary cultural research, and the museological method of multivocality. They conclude that in the case of multivocality, effectively addressing different visitor groups is a great challenge to curators. There is a risk that the simplified mediation of contradictory memories and views will leave a gap for visitors with less prior knowledge about the subject of the exhibition. In large exhibition teams, the curator has a crucial role to play in negotiating with team members to prevent the concept from dispersing. In the cases studied, it is possible to observe the curators’ views and detect a similar attempt to interpret complex topics through biographies. The analysis concludes that in the context of contemporary museological approaches, the voice of the curator remains essential, especially when mediating exhibits, for they cannot speak for themselves.

The information of the counting of souls containing both house names and names of individuals is an essential aspect of historical onomastics. The first counting of souls in Vidzeme took place in 1782 and coincided with the 4th analogous census of the provinces of Russia. Subsequently these took place at irregular intervals, the 5th in 1795, the 6th in 1811, the 7th in 1816, the 8th in 1834, the 9th in 1850, and the final, 10th in 1858. The number of house names entered in the 1826 counting of souls in Vidzeme province (guberna) is 14,500, including those of peasant homes that had been separated from another property whilst retaining the same name. House names based on flora (incl. names of mushrooms) semantics are listed for 574 dwellings, which represent just about 4% of all house names listed for Vidzeme, providing that repeated house names are counted separately. In case of several manors data is missing (lost) for the 1826 census, information for these manors is taken from previous and subsequent censuses. In many instances (279 cases registered) house names were based on the names of deciduous trees found in their immediate vicinity: such names comprise 48.6% of all house names of flora semantic origin, i. e., ozols ‘oak-tree’, bērzs ‘birch-tree’, kārkls ‘osier’, liepa ‘linden tree’, kļava ‘maple tree’, apses ‘aspen’, osis ‘ash tree’, alksnis ‘alder’, lazda ‘hazel-tree’, vītols ‘willow’, ieva ‘bird cherry’. Names based on names of conifers are found (35 instances were recorded, or 6.1% of all house names based on flora semantics), i. e., egle ‘spruce tree’, paeglis, kadiķis ‘juniper’, priede ‘pine-tree’. House names based on names of fruit trees and bushes are only occasionally found in Vidzeme, with 8 recorded instances, or 1.4% of all house names based on flora semantics, i. e., ābele ‘apple tree’, and upene ‘black-currant’. The next sub-group of house names based on flora semantics comprises those based on names of cereals. This is one of the most widely occurring flora semantics sub-groups and contains 58 entries, or 10,1% of all house names based on flora semantics, i. e., auzas ‘oats’, rudzi ‘rye’, mieži ‘barley’, kvieši ‘wheat’, griķi ‘buckwheat’. House names have been found based on terms of 6 legumes, which represents 1% of all house names based on flora semantics, i. e., zirnis ‘pea’, pupa, ‘bean’. Names of common vegetables are the basis for a considerable number of house names. i. e. 53 instances are recorded, representing 9.2% of all house names derived from flora semantics, i. e., rutks, ruduks ‘radish’, kāposts ‘cabbage’, rācenis ‘turnip’, sīpols ‘onion’, ķiploks ‘garlic’, kālis ‘swede’, gurķis ‘cucumber’. House names also derive from terms of widely-cultivated plants such as kaņepes ‘hemp’, apiņi ‘hops’ and lini ‘flax’. These have been the basis for 40 house names, which represent 7% of all hose names based on flora semantics. House names are also based on the names of cultivated and wild herbal plants, and of garden weeds. 47 such cases have been recorded, corresponding to 8.2% of all house names based on flora semantics, i. e., dadzis ‘thistle’, āboliņš ‘clover’, and amoliņš ‘sweet clover’, dille ‘dill’, grīslis ‘sedge’, smilga ‘bent grass’, usne ‘creeping thistle’, pienene ‘dandelion’, pērkones ‘charlocks’, niedre ‘reed’, skosta ‘horse-tail’, vībotne ‘mugwart’. A total of 32 house names based on three flower terms, roze ‘rose’, magone ‘poppy’ and astere ‘aster’ have been recorded; this represents 5.6% of all house names based on flora semantics. The majority (26) of these house names are based on terms of roses. A number of house names in Vidzeme appear to be based on names of mushrooms. 6 such names have been recorded, which represent 1% of all house names based on flora semantics, i. e., bekas ‘boletus’, krimilde, and rudmiese ‘Loctarius’. House names listed in the 1826 counting of souls are based on a wide range of flora semantics, with a clear preference for lexemes associated with names of trees. It is possible that this reflects landscape elements close to these homes, as well as the place that these features have in the relationship of home owners with nature, and their work. In order to draw any deeper conclusions about the presence of flora semantics in house names it would be necessary to examine all relevant historical records up to the present time. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Onomastika; Namų vardai; Onomastics; House names; Counting of souls in 19th century; Flora semantic

AbstractIn this paper, the authors analyse the ambiguous political decision to ban the major Russian web resources from access to the Ukrainian market, in spite of heavy criticisms from local and foreign experts. While the supporters of the new internet policy claimed the new strategy to be coherent with cybersecurity priorities of the country, the opponents pointed out a set of legal and political limitations. Drawing on the setting and results of taking a new approach to information policy, we describe the fragility of Euromaidan democratic heritage and drawbacks of the current political regime. The logical method of legal interpretation has been applied to analyse the controversies of the current legislation on Russian internet resources restriction. The article concludes that Ukrainian post-Euromaidan governance model needs to consolidate the efforts in order to prove the commitment to freedom of speech as a core European value and replace spontaneous actions with an evidence-based approach to political decision-making.

This paper concerns information dissemination in the Livland province of the Russian Empire at the turn of the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, when its rulers sent their orders to the provincial capital, Riga, by horse post. In Riga they were translated into German, and the ancient network of information dissemination used by the Lutheran Church was engaged. The orders of both the Empire and provincial rulers were delivered to Lutheran pastors, who announced this information to their parishes from the pulpit, speaking in Latvian or Estonian so as to be understood by local peasants (serfs), and allowed the texts to circulate around the manors of the parish. The infrastructure of the information network, its maintenance and threats, the speed of information distribution, information safety and security, and the fight against the delivery of false information are all topics of consideration. It is then concluded that information technology has changed drastically throughout time, but the problems it confronts remain quite similar.

Names in programming are vital for understanding the meaning of code and big data. We define code2brain (C2B) interfaces as maps in compilers and brains between meaning and naming syntax, which help to understand executable code. While working toward an Evolvix syntax for general‐purpose programming that makes accurate modeling easy for biologists, we observed how names affect C2B quality. To protect learning and coding investments, C2B interfaces require long‐term backward compatibility and semantic reproducibility (accurate reproduction of computational meaning from coder‐brains to reader‐brains by code alone). Semantic reproducibility is often assumed until confusing synonyms degrade modeling in biology to deciphering exercises. We highlight empirical naming priorities from diverse individuals and roles of names in different modes of computing to show how naming easily becomes impossibly difficult. We present the Evolvix BEST (Brief, Explicit, Summarizing, Technical) Names concept for reducing naming priority conflicts, test it on a real challenge by naming subfolders for the Project Organization Stabilizing Tool system, and provide naming questionnaires designed to facilitate C2B debugging by improving names used as keywords in a stabilizing programming language. Our experiences inspired us to develop Evolvix using a flipped programming language design approach with some unexpected features and BEST Names at its core.