Geometric correction of historical Arabic documents

Geometric deformations in historical documents significantly influence the success of both Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques and human readability. They may have been introduced at any time during the life cycle of a document, from when it was first printed to the time it was digitised by an imaging device. This Thesis focuses on the challenging domain of geometric correction of Arabic historical documents, where background research has highlighted that existing approaches for geometric correction of Latin-script historical documents are not sensitive to the characteristics of text in Arabic documents and therefore cannot be applied successfully. Text line segmentation and baseline detection algorithms have been investigated to propose a new more suitable one for warped Arabic historical document images. Advanced ideas for performing dewarping and geometric restoration on historical Arabic documents, as dictated by the specific characteristics of the problem have been implemented.In addition to developing an algorithm to detect accurate baselines of historical printed Arabic documents the research also contributes a new dataset consisting of historical Arabic documents with different degrees of warping severity.Overall, a new dewarping system, the first for Historical Arabic documents, has been developed taking into account both global and local features of the text image and the patterns of the smooth distortion between text lines. By using the results of the proposed line segmentation and baseline detection methods, it can cope with a variety of distortions, such as page curl, arbitrary warping and fold

Optimising additive manufacturing for fine art sculpture and digital restoration of archaeological artefacts

Additive manufacturing (AM) has shown itself to be beneficial in many application areas, including product design and manufacture, medical models and prosthetics, architectural modelling and artistic endeavours. For some of these applications, coupling AM with reverse engineering (RE) enables the utilisation of data from existing 3D shapes. This thesis describes the application of AM and RE within sculpture manufacture, in order to optimise the process chains for sculpture reproduction and relic conservation and restoration. This area poses particular problems since the original artefacts can often be fragile and inaccessible, and the finishing required on the AM replicas is both complex and varied. Several case studies within both literature and practical projects are presented, which cover essential knowledge of producing large scale sculptures from an original models as well as a wide range of artefact shapes and downstream finishing techniques. The combination of digital technologies and traditional art requires interdisciplinary knowledge across engineering and fine art. Also, definitions and requirements (e.g. ‘accuracy’), can be applied as both engineering and artistic terms when specifications and trade-offs are being considered. The thesis discusses the feasibility for using these technologies across domains, and explores the potential for developing new market opportunities for AM. It presents and analyses a number of case study projects undertaken by the author with a view to developing cost and time models for various processes used. These models have then been used to develop a series of "process maps", which enable users of AM in this area to decide upon the optimum process route to follow, under various circumstances. The maps were validated and user feedback obtained through the execution of two further sculpture manufacturing projects. The thesis finishes with conclusions about the feasibility of the approach, its constraints, the pros and cons of adopting AM in this area and recommendations for future research

Conservation of British colonial buildings built between 1800 and 1930 in Malaysia.

conservation in the United Kingdom and to develop possibilities of transferring them to the context of British colonial buildings in Malaysia. It is axiomatic, based on visits to and observations of a large number of buildings in Malaysia and the United Kingdom, that there are many similarities between the British colonial buildings built between 1800 and 1930 in Malaysia and those built in the same period of time in the United Kingdom; in terms of style, building materials, detailing, function and construction. Like many other countries in which building conservation seems a fairly new practice, Malaysia faces problems in dealing with the issues of historic buildings. The present legislation for historic buildings is not sufficient nor suitable, to protect such buildings from being demolished and destroyed. There is also no suitable system for discovering and recording the British colonial buildings in the country. Another aspect is lack of technical knowledge in repairing and maintaining historic buildings. An introductory chapter explains further these problems besides describing the British colonial architecture and the present situation of building conservation in Malaysia. The thesis is divided into five parts. Part One, deals with legislation, examines the scope of building conservation, reasons for conservation, tenninology, recording and listing buildings; and also some case law in regard to building conservation in the United Kingdom. Part Two looks upon philosophical attitudes of some organizations dealing with building conservation in the United Kingdom and Malaysia. Part Three includes a study of methodology which covers saving historic buildings, systems for discovering and recording, data of British colonial buildings, the use of building materials and common defects; and methods and techniques of building maintenance. Part Four presents and analyses case studies of building conservation in the United Kingdom and Malaysia. Several buildings have been selected to compare their changes of use and methods of renovation. Part Five provides conclusions and recommendations for the improvement of the British colonial buildings in Malaysia

Black American Literature and Humanism

For Black writers, what is tradition? What does it mean to them that Western humanism has excluded Black culture? Seven noted Black writers and critics take up these and other questions in this collection of original essays, attempting to redefine humanism from a Black perspective, to free it from ethnocentrism, and to enlarge its cultural base. Contributors: Richard K. Barksdale, Alice Childress, Chester J. Fontenot, Michael S. Harper, Trudier Harris, George E. Kent, R. Baxter Miller R. Baxter Miller is associate professor of English at the University of Tennessee. A milestone in the scholarship on Afro-American letters. —South Atlantic Review An important statement about Black American Literature today. Black writers challenge many of the assumptions of Westerns humanism, and critics must be cognizant of their challenge. —Robert Hemenwayhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_african_american_studies/1027/thumbnail.jp