Historical Document Enhancement Using LUT Classification

The fast evolution of scanning and computing technologies in recent years has led to the creation of large collections of scanned historical documents. It is almost always the case that these scanned documents suffer from some form of degradation. Large degradations make documents hard to read and substantially deteriorate the performance of automated document processing systems. Enhancement of degraded document images is normally performed assuming global degradation models. When the degradation is large, global degradation models do not perform well. In contrast, we propose to learn local degradation models and use them in enhancing degraded document images. Using a semi-automated enhancement system, we have labeled a subset of the Frieder diaries collection (The diaries of Rabbi Dr. Avraham Abba Frieder. http://ir.iit.edu/collections/). This labeled subset was then used to train classifiers based on lookup tables in conjunction with the approximated nearest neighbor algorithm. The resulting algorithm is highly efficient and effective. Experimental evaluation results are provided using the Frieder diaries collection (The diaries of Rabbi Dr. Avraham Abba Frieder. http://ir.iit.edu/collections/). © Springer-Verlag 2009

Analyse de classes de formes pour la transcription de textes imprimés anciens

International audienceCe travail se situe dans le contexte de la numérisation et de l'indexation de documents imprimés anciens. Il décrit un logiciel intitulé Retro, permettant de transcrire semi automatiquement les zones de texte préalablement localisées et extraites à l'aide d'un autre logiciel nommé Agora. Agora réalise simultanément l'analyse de structure des pages et une extraction de toutes les composantes connexes présentes dans chaque page. Une classification non-supervisée de ces composantes connexes est effectuée et conduit à la création de classes regroupant des composantes semblables. Nous proposons dans cet article une étude, puis une exploitation des classes issues d'Agora pour obtenir une transcription du texte (OCR). Nous présentons une analyse statistique et qualitative des classes produites, avant de proposer une méthode de fusion des classes basées sur l'étude de leur relation de voisinage qui nous permet d'étiqueter rapidement 60% des caractères d'un ouvrage sans utiliser de méthode couteuse en temps de calcul

The farmhouses of la Garrotxa: Batet de la Serra and Santa Pau: photogrammetric survey of Mas Maçandell

El treball pretén realitzar un estudi previ de les masies de la Garrotxa i aprofundir en les que han quedat en ruïnes per a posteriorment analitzar, estudiar i representar mitjançant diverses tècniques gràfiques Mas Maçandell, per poder donar una eina útil per la seva posterior intervenció i no arribi a l'estat de ruïna.The work aims to do is to conduct a preliminary study of the farmhouses of the Garrotxa and delve into those that have been left in ruins and then analyze, study and represent through various graphic techniques the pathologies and intervention of more Mas Maçandell, so that it does not reach the state of ruin

Adaptive Methods for Robust Document Image Understanding

A vast amount of digital document material is continuously being produced as part of major digitization efforts around the world. In this context, generic and efficient automatic solutions for document image understanding represent a stringent necessity. We propose a generic framework for document image understanding systems, usable for practically any document types available in digital form. Following the introduced workflow, we shift our attention to each of the following processing stages in turn: quality assurance, image enhancement, color reduction and binarization, skew and orientation detection, page segmentation and logical layout analysis. We review the state of the art in each area, identify current defficiencies, point out promising directions and give specific guidelines for future investigation. We address some of the identified issues by means of novel algorithmic solutions putting special focus on generality, computational efficiency and the exploitation of all available sources of information. More specifically, we introduce the following original methods: a fully automatic detection of color reference targets in digitized material, accurate foreground extraction from color historical documents, font enhancement for hot metal typesetted prints, a theoretically optimal solution for the document binarization problem from both computational complexity- and threshold selection point of view, a layout-independent skew and orientation detection, a robust and versatile page segmentation method, a semi-automatic front page detection algorithm and a complete framework for article segmentation in periodical publications. The proposed methods are experimentally evaluated on large datasets consisting of real-life heterogeneous document scans. The obtained results show that a document understanding system combining these modules is able to robustly process a wide variety of documents with good overall accuracy

Heritage Regimes and the State

What happens when UNESCO heritage conventions are ratified by a state? How do UNESCO’s global efforts interact with preexisting local, regional and state efforts to conserve or promote culture? What new institutions emerge to address the mandate? The contributors to this volume focus on the work of translation and interpretation that ensues once heritage conventions are ratified and implemented. With seventeen case studies from Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and China, the volume provides comparative evidence for the divergent heritage regimes generated in states that differ in history and political organization. The cases illustrate how UNESCO’s aspiration to honor and celebrate cultural diversity diversifies itself. The very effort to adopt a global heritage regime forces myriad adaptations to particular state and interstate modalities of building and managing heritage.What happens when UNESCO heritage conventions are ratified by a state? How do UNESCO’s global efforts interact with preexisting local, regional and state efforts to conserve or promote culture? What new institutions emerge to address the mandate? The contributors to this volume focus on the work of translation and interpretation that ensues once heritage conventions are ratified and implemented. With seventeen case studies from Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and China, the volume provides comparative evidence for the divergent heritage regimes generated in states that differ in history and political organization. The cases illustrate how UNESCO’s aspiration to honor and celebrate cultural diversity diversifies itself. The very effort to adopt a global heritage regime forces myriad adaptations to particular state and interstate modalities of building and managing heritage

Design as research in architecture

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modern building reuse : documentation, maintenance, recovery and renewal

Index “Foreword” by Vincenzo Riso / The definition of the Field “Two or three things I know about conservation of modern architecture” by Benedetto di Cristina / “Some considerations on the preservation of 20th century architectural heritage” by Teresa Ferreira / “The Architectural Press photographs at the core of the modern architecture paradigms, UK 1950/1970” by Paulo Catrica / “Intervening in modern architecture: a design theme and a research problema” [EN e PT] by José Miguel Rodrigues / “Design as Research in Architecture” [EN e PT] by Pedro Bandeira / “Inspection and condition assessment: Concepts, methods and tools” [EN e PT] by Paulo J. S. Cruz / “Architecture of the 20th century in Seine-Saint-Denis: an emerging heritage” [EN e FR] by Bruno Mengoli / “A conversation on the habitability of the domestic space. The client, the architect, the inhabitant and the house” [EN e PT] by Ana Luísa Rodrigues / “Improving the energy efficiency of existing building envelope” By Peter Erlacher / Marianna Marchesi / “The Tugendhat House between craft tradition and technological innovation. Preservation as sustainable building policy” [EN e PT] by Ivo Hammer / “Cost-effective rehabilitation of the building envelope of a housing development. From diagnosis to completion of the Work” [EN e PT] by Vasco Freitas, Pedro Gonçalves & Sara Stingl de Freitas / “Restoration of Alvar Aalto’s Library in Vyborg” by Maija Kairamo / “Vedute, abstract from «Subtopia: Photography Architecture and the New Towns programme»” by Paulo CatricaThe volume gathers the transcriptions of a great part of the lectures given within the second edition of the Doctoral Programme in Architecture of EAUM of the academic year 2011-12. Under the motto Architecture: Sustainability, Conservation and Technology and considering all the didactic intentions, we thought about Modern Building Reuse: Documentation, Maintenance, Recovery and Renewal as a specific thematic line, which could embody the current changes in architectural education and professional practice, and their significant impact on the way architectural knowledge is today developed

Research Advances for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage

Because European Cultural Heritage is an invaluable legacy, the Ministry for Science and Innovation funded the Spanish Network on Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage (TechnoHeritage), which began its activities in March 2011.Currently seventy five groups participate in the Network, including Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Spanish universities teams, cultural institutions, foundations and museums, and private companies. One of the activities of the Network is the organization of annual meetings. This International Congress—organised on behalf of TechnoHeritage by the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela— has a goal of creating an interdisciplinary forum for discussion on all aspects of cultural heritage conservation while providing an up-to-date and comprehensive picture of the state-of-the-art investigations in this field

Heritage Regimes and the State

What happens when UNESCO heritage conventions are ratified by a state? How do UNESCO’s global efforts interact with preexisting local, regional and state efforts to conserve or promote culture? What new institutions emerge to address the mandate? The contributors to this volume focus on the work of translation and interpretation that ensues once heritage conventions are ratified and implemented. With seventeen case studies from Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and China, the volume provides comparative evidence for the divergent heritage regimes generated in states that differ in history and political organization. The cases illustrate how UNESCO’s aspiration to honor and celebrate cultural diversity diversifies itself. The very effort to adopt a global heritage regime forces myriad adaptations to particular state and interstate modalities of building and managing heritage