This book presents 17 selected papers from the 4th International Graphonomics Society Conference, held at the University of Trondheim (Norway) in July 1989. It focusses on different aspects of automatic processing of handwriting by computer. The book is divided into three sections. The first one surveys the research works done on automatic signature verification over the last 25 years. The second section deals with problems related to the design of on-line cursive script recognition and the implementation of this technology into an electronic pen pad. The third section focusses on the integration of contextual knowledge in these systems.

As a child I would often wonder when I saw an illustration of a stone tablet, and ask myself: What did the inscription mean? How did these people sound when they talked? What would that piece of clay say if it could speak!The enigma of the Phaistos Disc is revisited here in the light of new findings. From the various interpretations of the origin of the symbols depicted on the disc.Kober, Ventris, Chadwick and Bennett, the cryptologists are remembered for paving the way for us to understand the language and culture of early societies.Archaeological excavations, archaic languages and Myths are explored, together with theories of archaic Cretan relations as far away as the Black Sea. If this book enthuses just one person to forge ahead to uncover new information to allow "The Stones to Speak," then I will be satisfied.

Of the four most ancient civilizations of the Old World only the South Asian or Harappan civilization's writing has not been deciphered. Ever since the discovery of that civilization in the early part of the 20th century, almost innumerable efforts have been made by scholar and amateur alike to solve the puzzle of the ancient writing. The author, building on the most enlightened of these efforts and on his intimate experience in the archaeology of the Indus River region has created a methodology which makes possible a major breakthrough for the decipherment of the Harappan writing.
The book describes in detail what this methodology is and applies it to the writing. Over 4,000 inscriptions were studied from which a compilation of these signs used in the script writing, identification of each of the 419 signs involved, and their probable representation of words and sounds in the Harappan language, was made possible.
The book furnishes a model which can be tested. Sign identification lists, possible translations and a beginning of a grammar are included. The motifs associated with the writing are also studied and that relationship analyzed. The consequence of this understanding of the writing and the motif coupled with the already known archaeological evidence is the restoration of ancient life as it was lived in the Western part of the Indian Subcontinent in the 3rd Millennium B.C. While not a claim for decipherment, the model may yet be the most advanced step for decipherment yet taken.

Striking an inviting balance of seriousness and humor, Jack Shreve's writing draws students' attention to his subject, making them feel involved and interested. College Vocabulary Development, 3e presents much more than merely so many lists of words, the meanings of which must be memorized out of the context of their regular usage. Rather, this text provides firm cognitive anchors through head notes, arrangement of material, and detailed questions that are all integral parts of each unit. This unique approach helps students expand their vocabularies in a far more natural manner than allowed by most vocabulary texts. In turn, students find themselves prepared not only to use their expanded vocabulary, but to understand what they're saying, as well.