Novice Ideas: Handwriting Comparisons Conducted by an Untrained Individual

Forensic analysis of questioned documents includes chemical analyses of paper and ink as well as handwriting comparisons. Several elements affect handwriting analyses, including the presence of discriminatory factors that can individualize a handwriting sample and whether the handwriting has been disguised. Five handwriting samples were gathered from six individuals comprising of one reference, three natural unknowns, and one disguised sample per person. A novice conducted analyses on every collected sample and conducted comparisons of the reference sample to the unknown and disguised samples in an attempt to correctly source the unknown and disguised samples. The novice showed a high level of accuracy in correctly sourcing the natural sample but made erroneous conclusions when analyzing the disguised samples

Identifying developmental coordination disorder: MOQ-T validity as a fast screening instrument based on teachers' ratings and its relationship with praxic and visuospatial working memory deficits.

The present study was devoted to test the validity of the Italian adaptation of the Motor Observation Questionnaire for Teachers (MOQ-T, Schoemaker, Flapper, Reinders-Messelink, & De Kloet, 2008) as a fast screening instrument, based on teachers' ratings, for detecting developmental coordination disorders symptoms and to study its relationship with praxic and visuospatial working memory deficits. In a first study on a large sample of children, we assessed the reliability and structure of the Italian adaptation of the MOQ-T. Results showed a good reliability of the questionnaire and a hierarchical structure with two first-order factors (reflecting motor and handwriting skills), which are influenced by a second-order factor (general motor function) at the top. In a second study, we looked at the external validity of the MOQ-T and found that children with symptoms of Developmental Coordination Disorder (children with high scores on the MOQ-T) also had difficulty reproducing gestures, either imitating others or in response to verbal prompts. Our results also showed that children with high MOQ-T scores had visuospatial WM impairments. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed

Digital Paleography: Using the Digital Representation of Jawi Manuscripts to Support Paleographic Analysis

Palaeography is the study of ancient handwritten manuscripts to date the age and to localize ancient and medieval scripts. It also deals with analysing the development of the letters shape. Ancient Jawi manuscripts are one of the least studiedarea. Nowadays, over 7789 known Jawi manuscripts are kept in custody of various libraries in Malaysia. Most of these manuscripts were undated with unknown authors and location of origin. Analysing the different types of writing styles and recognizing the manuscript illuminations can discover this important information. In this paper, we discuss the palaeographical analysis from the perspective of computer science and propose a general framework for that. This process involves investigation of Arabic influence on the Jawi manuscript writings, establishing the palaeographical type of the script, and classification of writing styles based on local and global Jawi image features

Digital Paleography: Using the Digital Representation of Jawi Manuscripts to Support Paleographic Analysis

Palaeography is the study of ancient handwritten manuscripts to date the age and to localize ancient and medieval scripts. It also deals with analysing the development of the letters shape. Ancient Jawi manuscripts are one of the least studiedarea. Nowadays, over 7789 known Jawi manuscripts are kept in custody of various libraries in Malaysia. Most of these manuscripts were undated with unknown authors and location of origin. Analysing the different types of writing styles and recognizing the manuscript illuminations can discover this important information. In this paper, we discuss the palaeographical analysis from the perspective of computer science and propose a general framework for that. This process involves investigation of Arabic influence on the Jawi manuscript writings, establishing the palaeographical type of the script, and classification of writing styles based on local and global Jawi image features