A Bi-directional Bi-Lingual Translation Braille-Text System

AbstractVisually impaired people are an integral part of the society. However, their disabilities have made them to have less access to computers, the Internet, and high quality educational software than the people with clear vision. Consequently, they have not been able to improve on their own knowledge, and have significant influence and impact on the economic, commercial, and educational ventures in the society. One way to narrow this widening gap and see a reversal of this trend is to develop a system, within their economic reach, and which will empower them to communicate freely and widely using the Internet or any other information infrastructure. Over time, the Braille system has been used by the visually impaired for communication and contact with the outside world. Translation between one language and another, using the Braille coding system, has been limited, problematic, and in many cases, one-directional.This paper describes an Arabic Braille bi-directional and bi-lingual translation/editor system that does not need expensive equipments. With appropriate rule file for any other languages, this system can be generalized to facilitate communication among literate people regardless of their disabilities (visually impaired or sighted), income, languages, and geographical locations

Translation as a Form of Da’wah: a Unique Cultural Experience of King Fahd Glorious Qur’an Printing Complex and Its influence on Islamic Ummah

Established in 1405 A.H. (1984 CE) by His Royal Highness King Fahd bin ‘Abd al-Aziz Al Sa’ud (rahimahu Allah) Qur’an Printing Complex quickly became one of the most eminent institutions that are related not only to the propagation of Qur’anic knowledge, but to Islamic Affairs in general. The main goal of our article is to explore how the Qur’an Printing Complex obtained its highest position in Islamic world and which efforts, with the help of Allah the Almighty, were made by the wise government of Al Sa’ud and Islamic scholars from the Kingdom on the way to these achievements. It is proved that Qur’an Printing Complex completely realized Islamic view on the translation of the Glorious Qur’an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that is stated in the words of Sheikh al-Islam Ahmad ibn Taymiyah (rahimahu Allah) in his work “Refutation of Greek Logic”: “Islamic community is obliged to convey (tabligh) The Qur’an, its words and meanings… if its conveying to the foreigners needs a translation, let them [i.e. Muslims] translate it as much as possible”. We assume that King Fahd Glorious Qur’an Printing Complex is a unique religious institution in the world, since no other religion has such a powerful scientific and cultural organization that deals with sacred texts and their edition. The level of published editions, interpretations and academic requirements to the translations received the highest evaluation not only from Muslim scholars, but also from Orientalists. The well-known edition of the Glorious Mushaf (al-Mushaf al-Madinah an-Nabawiyyah), published by Complex, constitutes one of the most referred sources in the present-day Qur’anic Studies. Our article affirms that methods and other features of Islamic call, used by Qur’an Printing Complex and based on the path of as-salaf as-salih, provide a wide scientific experience that is useful for Islamic ummah in every corner of the globe

Braille Innovation Technology in Teaching and Learning Process For Visual Impairment

The innovation of braille makes learning for children with visual impairments easier. The breakthrough braille innovation developed is able to encourage the creation of creative, active, and practical learning for children with visual impairments. This study aims to collect and analyze articles related to innovation technology of braille for teaching and learning process to visual impairment. The design of study used literature review that use data collection methods with search related topics, data analysis and also writing research results. The results of this study that braille innovations technology for reading, writing and conceptualizing of reading are useful in the learning process of children with visual impairments

Hardware-based text-to-braille translation

Braille, as a special written method of communication for the blind, has been globally accepted for years. It gives blind people another chance to learn and communicate more efficiently with the rest of the world. It also makes possible the translation of printed languages into a written language which is recognisable for blind people. Recently, Braille is experiencing a decreasing popularity due to the use of alternative technologies, like speech synthesis. However, as a form of literacy, Braille is still playing a significant role in the education of people with visual impairments. With the development of electronic technology, Braille turned out to be well suited to computer-aided production because of its coded forms. Software based text-to-Braille translation has been proved to be a successful solution in Assistive Technology (AT). However, the feasibility and advantages of the algorithm reconfiguration based on hardware implementation have rarely been substantially discussed. A hardware-based translation system with algorithm reconfiguration is able to supply greater throughput than a software-based system. Further, it is also expected as a single component integrated in a multi-functional Braille system on a chip.Therefore, this thesis presents the development of a system for text-to-Braille translation implemented in hardware. Differing from most commercial methods, this translator is able to carry out the translation in hardware instead of using software. To find a particular translation algorithm which is suitable for a hardware-based solution, the history of, and previous contributions to Braille translation are introduced and discussed. It is concluded that Markov systems, a formal language theory, were highly suitable for application to hardware based Braille translation. Furthermore, the text-to-Braille algorithm is reconfigured to achieve parallel processing to accelerate the translation speed. Characteristics and advantages of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and application of Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) are introduced to explain how the translating algorithm can be transformed to hardware. Using a Xilinx hardware development platform, the algorithm for text-to-Braille translation is implemented and the structure of the translator is described hierarchically

English/Arabic/English Machine Translation: A Historical Perspective

This paper examines the history and development of Machine Translation (MT) applications for the Arabic language in the context of the history and machine translation in general. It starts with a discussion of the beginnings of MT in the US and then, depending on the work of MT historians, surveys the decline of the work on MT and drying up of funding; then the revival with globalization, development of information technology and the rising needs for breaking the language barriers in the world; and last on the dramatic developments that came with the advances in computer technology. The paper also examined some of the major approaches for MT within a historical perspective. The case of Arabic is treated along the same lines focusing on the work that was done on Arabic by Western research institutes and Western profit motivated companies. Special attention is given to the work of the one Arab company, Sakr of Al-Alamiyya Group, which was established in 1982 and has seriously since then worked on developing software applications for Arabic under the umbrella of natural language processing for the Arabic language. Major available software applications for Arabic/English Arabic MT as well as MT related software were surveyed within a historical framework.Cet article examine l’histoire et l’évolution des applications de la traduction automatique (TA) en langue arabe, dans le contexte de l’histoire de la TA en général. Il commence par décrire les débuts de la TA aux États-Unis et son déclin dû à l’épuisement du financement ; ensuite, son renouveau suscité par la mondialisation, le développement des technologies de l’information et les besoins croissants de lever les barrières linguistiques. Finalement, il aborde les progrès vertigineux réalisés grâce à l’informatique. L’article étudie aussi les principales approches de la TA dans une perspective historique. Le cas de l’arabe est traité dans cette perspective, compte tenu des travaux effectués par les instituts de recherche occidentaux et quelques sociétés privées occidentales. Un accent particulier est mis sur les recherches de la société arabe Sakr, fondée dès 1982, qui a mis au point plusieurs logiciels de traitement de langues naturelles pour l’arabe. Ces divers logiciels de TA arabe-anglais-arabe ainsi que des applications associées sont présentés dans un cadre historique

Bahasa Melayu (BM) Screen Reader for Visually Impaired Internet Users

Currently, the Internet usage is rising at a frenzied rate as knowledge and information sharing becomes easy and is time-saving. Regrettably, the visually impaired do not enjoy this liberty and they are facing difficulties in using computer and the Internet to seize any shared and available information. This difficulty is faced especially among the visually impaired Malay language medium Internet user. Specifically, existing screen reader cannot fully cater for users who need to browse the Malay language web pages. The inability of screen reader narration to enunciate Malay words correctly has become a restriction for the visually impaired to acquire any information in the Malay language. Narration of the words are done by non-Malay speakers and the enunciation of those words confuses and at times, do not help users. Thus, this project addresses this issue by investigating the difficulties for visually impaired Internet user to understand what is spoken when using screen readers without a native Malay narrator or speaker. This project aims to reduce the time needed for the visually impaired to understand the information in the Malay language read by the narrator of the screen reader. This project also strives to develop a screen reader prototype, which is able to read in Bahasa Melayu (BM) using local accent. To achieve all the objectives, preliminary interviews and testing session were conducted to collect data to test the hypothesis made. The findings are then will be used as main source of data to develop a prototype of the screen reader. From the built prototype, user testing will be conducted with a sample group of visually impaired to test the functionalities and evaluate the effectiveness of the software. The results and recommendations will be shared by the end of the project as a key milestone for future enhancement

Tajweed Rules Haptic Application with Sound for Visually Impaired People

Every Muslim in this world needs to read Quran as one of religion activities in Islam. Quran can be read in a book and even in digitalized form of Quran such as in mobile phones and also electronic type of Quran. However, blind people are unable to read Quran in book form and digitalized form. Therefore, this project aims to address the problems faced by blind people and partially impaired people to learn on how to recite Quran with right Tajweed which synchronizes audio and haptic. Interview session with blind people and partially impaired people will be done to determine what are the limitations and problems faced by them during reciting Quran. Respondents from Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB) will be the main focus group for this project. Hence, this research study will discover ways to help blind people and partially impaired people to read Quran with right Tajweed and right pronunciation. This project is hoped to successfully help blind people and partially impaired people to teach and learn on how to recite Quran properly with the help of Braille Line 20 haptic and audio application

Sorotan histeria massa remaja Muslim di Malaysia

Histeria merupakan permasalahan sosial masyarakat yang sering didengari berlaku dalam komuniti. Gejala histeria yang berlaku sama ada secara individu atau kumpulan menunjukkan terdapat tekanan dalam kelompok atau mangsa yang membawa kepada ledakan psikologi yang ekstrim dan di luar kawalan. Histeria yang berlaku khusus dalam kalangan remaja di Malaysia kebanyakannya terjadi secara beramai-ramai atau berkumpulan. Gejala ini dikenali sebagai histeria massa atau histeria epidemik iaitu cetusan histeria yang melibatkan sekumpulan individu yang berkongsi keadaan tertekan dan emosi yang saling berhubung antara satu sama lain. Justeru dengan melihat kepada senario yang berlaku artikel ini ditulis untuk mengupas isu histeria massa dan menyoroti fenomena histeria dalam kalangan remaja Muslim di Malaysia. Kupasan isu ini menggunakan kaedah analisis kandungan dengan cara meneliti dokumen dan artikel berkaitan untuk mengenal pasti gejala histeria massa dalam kalangan remaja. Rumusan perbincangan mendapati histeria massa dalam kalangan remaja di Malaysia kebanyakannya bercorak mass motor hysteria (histeria massa motor) dengan orientasi tingkah laku ceraian (dissociative), iaitu tingkah laku fizikal ekstrim berbanding di Barat yang sering berbentuk mass anxiety hysteria (histeria massa kebimbangan

Word Sense Disambiguation on English Translation of Holy Quran

This article proposes a system based on the interpretation on the Quranic text that has been translated into English language using word sense disambiguation. This system is based on a combination of three traditional semantic similarity measurements, which are Wu-Palmer (WUP), Lin (LIN), and Jiang-Conrath (JCN) for word sense disambiguation on the English Al-Quran. The experiment was performed to obtain the best overall similarity score. The empirical results demonstrate that the combination of the three mentioned semantic similarity techniques obtained competitive results when compared with using individual similarity measurements