Handwritten Script Recognition using DCT, Gabor Filter and Wavelet Features at Line Level

In a country like India where more number of scripts are in use, automatic identification of printed and handwritten script facilitates many important applications including sorting of document images and searching online archives of document images. In this paper, a multiple feature based approach is presented to identify the script type of the collection of handwritten documents. Eight popular Indian scripts are considered here. Features are extracted using Gabor filters, Discrete Cosine Transform, and Wavelets of Daubechies family. Experiments are performed to test the recognition accuracy of the proposed system at line level for bilingual scripts and later extended to trilingual scripts. We have obtained 100% recognition accuracy for bi-scripts at line level. The classification is done using k-nearest neighbour classifier

Handwritten Devanagari Text Recognition using Single Classifier Approach with VSPCA Scheme

In this research paper we used individual classifier approach for Handwritten Devanagari text recognition. We experimented different categorical classifiers namely   Random Forest Classifier (RFC), Support Vector Machine (SVM), K Nearest Neighbor Classifier (KNN), Logistic Regression Classifier (LogRegr), Decision Tree Classifier (DTree). Seven different feature sets are used namely Eccentricity, Euler Number, Horizontal Histogram, Vertical Histogram, HOG Features, LBP Features, and Statistical Features. The experimentation is carried out on 9434 different characters whose features are extracted from 220 handwritten image documents from PHDIndic_11 dataset. We deduced and implemented a unique scheme namely VSPCA scheme. VSPCA is Vectorization, Scaling, and Principal Component Analysis carried out on all feature sets before being given for model training. We obtained varied accuracies using all these five classifiers on all these six feature sets in which 99.52% highest accuracy is observed

The development of trilingual literacy in primary schools in Kenya

The Kenyan language in education policy contemplates development of trilingual literacy skills in pupils by the end of standard three. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent standard three pupils were literate in their mother tongue (Ekegusii), Kiswahili, and English. The study was undertaken in the context of; a language in education policy that provides for the use of mother tongues and Kiswahili (as languages of instruction) in rural and urban schools respectively up to the end of standard three, followed by a transition to an English medium from standard four; a general negative public attitude towards mother tongue instruction; and substantial empirical evidence in support of mother tongue instruction in basic education. Cummins’ Linguistic Interdependence and Linguistic Threshold Hypotheses guided the study. Adopting a mixed methods approach, the study used direct classroom observations, face-to-face interviews, document analyses, and reading tests to obtain data. Thematic, content, and statistical approaches were used in data analysis. It was found that various stakeholders understand key aspects of the language in education policy differently. Secondly, efforts in mother tongue instruction in schools are not motivated by theoretical and empirical foundations; development efforts are hence ineffective and inadequate leaving majority of learners with below average literacy skills in their mother tongue by the end of standard three. Thirdly, teachers do not implement the language in education policy as spelt out in the relevant documents; the three languages have therefore been allocated various classroom functions. Fourthly, the factors that motivate the disregard of the language policy include the language of examinations and textbooks, and transition to standard four in which English is the language of instruction. Lastly, reading scores indicate that majority of pupils transiting to standard four do not possess adequate reading skills to enable them read to learn in a mother tongue, Kiswahili, and English. This is observed across rural, peri-urban, and urban schools. The study recommends that: The ministry of education conducts workshops to re-educate the relevant stakeholders on the meaning and significance of the language in education policy and the significance of mother tongue instruction in second language, literacy, and skill development. This should be followed by a re-classification of primary schools on the basis of linguistic homogeneity, or otherwise, to ensure the intention of the policy is achieved. This could include empowering individual schools to determine language of instruction in lower primary based on language predominance. Secondly, the ministry should provide relevant resources for mother tongues and Kiswahili to develop them as effective languages of instruction as recommended by various past education commission reports. Additionally, a bilingual course in teacher training colleges to equip primary school teachers for bilingualism and biliteracy development should be introduced; one implication of this is teachers giving notes and tests in the languages spelt out in the policy. Thirdly, the ministry should intensify inspection of schools to assess implementation of the policy. Fourthly, future studies should assess mother tongue literacies as well, since they determine the extent and success of second language acquisition and learning; and measures should be put to ensure English is adequately resourced and taught well. Finally, mother tongue instruction should be extended up to, at least, standard five

State Of The Art In Digital Paleography

Digital paleography is an approach used to assist paleographers in deciding the origin of manuscripts. This is done by recording types of writings present in old manuscripts. It uses digital representation of book hands as a tool to support paleographical analyses by, human experts. There are six types of manuscripts selected which are Arabic, Chinese, Jawi, Indian, Latin and Roman. These types of manuscripts are discussed through their current contribution in the digital paleography field. The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the current work on digital paleography for selected types of manuscripts. Thus, we identified the approaches and methods used to define the types of handwritings in old manuscript

The development of self-identification in Chinese-Vietnamese children in Australia : the influence of family language practices and changing social environments

This thesis investigates the development of children’s self-identification in minority bi-ethnic migrant families in relation to their multilingual and multicultural practices, within the context of exogamous families in Australia. While these bi-ethnic partnerships implicitly or explicitly implement policies and strategies to encourage the use of home languages, there is scant understanding of the dynamic interrelation between the development of identity in multi-ethnic children and their language development in changing social environments. Bi- and multilingual children’s language acquisition, family language policy and identity issues have been extensively studied internationally. However, these studies do not systematically investigate the connections between identity development in multilingual children, their respective family’s linguistic and cultural input, and their social environments. This thesis examines family language practices and socio-environmental factors impacting young children’s identity construction, to complement previous research on Australian bilingual children. It seeks to contribute to the current debate between essentialist (psychological) versus non-essentialist (socio-linguistic) identity issues by examining children’s expression of self in response to the three languages in their environment, including their families’ referential practices. It also observes the effects of different social contexts and changing circumstances on children’s self-identification. The design of this research is longitudinal, as it aims to gather data from two Australian Cantonese-Vietnamese families over three years. The key finding of this study is that children construct their identity in a dynamic and context-bound way. Results identify three major influencing factors as playing a role in the children’s self-identification: 1) family language input and practices; 2) family ideologies, cultural practices, and family networks, as well as the migrant community and 3) peers and the childcare/school environments. This thesis contributes new empirical data to existing research on family language policy and adds new language pairs to the field of heritage language maintenance and child identity in the Australian context. The data suggests that self-identification develops in a context-bound way parallel to the context-bound language development proposed in Qi and Di Biase (2020). It reveals that children’s self-identification grows not merely under the influence of their family’s linguistic and cultural practices, but also adjusts to changing circumstances and pressures from peers and adult role models in the dominant environment. These findings may play a role in the preservation of heritage languages and family wellbeing

Books and materiality

This chapter considers medieval English books as objects embedded in European and global networks. From the pigments used to adorn pages to the people who made those pages, bookmaking connected England to the continent and the world. The chapter describes the movement of materials, methods, artisans, and books along international routes, and it examines the domestication of the foreign, as new elements and processes became familiar to English book producers and were incorporated into local traditions. The chapter pays particular attention to the influence on English books, bookmakers, and book collectors of their closest neighbours in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and especially France. We offer a new approach to the study of medieval English manuscripts and early printed books, in which the tension between the local and the global recasts the material text as a transnational object

Policy Enactment of Trilingual Education in Kazakhstan: A Case Study of One NIS School

Currently national Trilingual Education Policy (TLP) is one of the most important topics in the Kazakhstani educational system, and all Kazakhstani schools are involved in its implementation. However, despite the national mandate for trilingual education in schools, at this stage of policy formulation, there is a lack of clear and explicit regulations or guidelines for implementing the policy in schools. This current lack necessitates that schools interpret what they think trilingual policy means for their context. One national policy response was the establishment of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) as a model platform for innovation that can later be transferred to Kazakhstani mainstream schools, TLP being one important innovation..

Violence in the Behistun Monument: Construction and Cohesion of Achaemenid Imperial Rule under Darius I (522-519 BCE)

What are the challenges of studying violence in the ancient world? How should we define violence for historical studies? How do appeals to violent ability aid the establishment and maintenance of regimes of power? I explore these questions in my thesis through an analysis of the Behistun Monument, Darius I's memorial to his victories between 522-519 BCE. I investigate the king's use of psychological and figurative violence in the foundation of the Achaemenid regime of power, after violently suppressing the rebellions against him. In the first part of the thesis I outline the methodological principles of the study and examine the source basis. In Chapter One, I examine how definitions of violence arising from the social scientific debate can be applied to different ancient source material and studies. My methodological approach is based on a 'wide' concept of violence, which accounts for its non-physical aspects. In Chapter Two, I contextualise the Behistun Monument within the extant corpus of Teispid (550-522 BCE) and Achaemenid (522-331 BCE) artefacts. In the second part of the thesis, I conduct a case study of violence in the Behistun Monument. In Chapter Three I consider the monument's figurative aspects: the relief image and inscriptions on the mountainside. In Chapters Four, Five and Six, I consider the inscriptional content. This analysis relates primarily to the 'violent rhetoric': descriptions of the battles fought and punishments inflicted in the course of the crisis and what these reveal about Achaemenid imperial ideology. In the conclusion, I outline the benefits of using a 'wide' definition to examine historical violence revealed by the case study and propose further directions for stud