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The aim of this paper is to experimentally evaluate the effectiveness of the state-of-the-art printed Arabic text recognition systems to determine open areas for future improvements. In addition, this paper proposes a standard protocol with a set of metrics for measuring the effectiveness of Arabic optical character recognition (OCR) systems to assist researchers in comparing different Arabic OCR approaches.

This paper describes an experiment to automatically evaluate four well-known Arabic OCR systems using a set of performance metrics. The evaluation experiment is conducted on a publicly available printed Arabic dataset comprising 240 text images with a variety of resolution levels, font types, font styles and font sizes.

The experimental results show that the field of character recognition for printed Arabic still requires further research to reach an efficient text recognition method for Arabic script.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work that provides a comprehensive automated evaluation of Arabic OCR systems with respect to the characteristics of Arabic script and, in addition, proposes an evaluation methodology that can be used as a benchmark by researchers and therefore will contribute significantly to the enhancement of the field of Arabic script recognition.

The diffusion of electronic commerce has a notable impact on the economy's prosperity. This paper embraces complexity theory principles to examine the factors affecting Internet users' acceptance and use of electronic retailers. It is essential for the sustainability of electronic retailers to understand the motivations impacting online consumer behaviour. Symmetrical and asymmetrical methods are combined to examine the relationship between perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, web characteristics, online consumer reviews (OCRs) and online purchase intention. Further, symmetry and differences between males and females were examined.

Data collected from 425 online consumers using an online structured survey was analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The net effects and causal configurations of the four proposed variables and online purchase intention were examined.

The SEM findings confirmed the significance of perceived enjoyment, website characteristics and OCRs on online purchase intention. Perceived enjoyment mediated the relationship between perceived ease of use and online purchase intention. The multi-group analysis confirmed the difference in antecedent impacts between males and females. The fsQCA findings revealed that multiple recipes lead to the occurrence of online purchase intention; in addition, the recipes leading to its absence do not mirror the previous ones.

The present study embraces complexity theory concepts in understanding online purchase intention using fsQCA methodology; further, the role of gender in online consumer behaviour was highlighted in the result discussion.

This paper aims to describe an interdisciplinary and innovative research conducted in Switzerland, at the Geneva School of Business Administration HES-SO and supported by the State Archives of Neuchâtel (Office des archives de l'État de Neuchâtel, OAEN). The problem to be addressed is one of the most classical ones: how to extract and discriminate relevant data in a huge amount of diversified and complex data record formats and contents. The goal of this study is to provide a framework and a proof of concept for a software that helps taking defensible decisions on the retention and disposal of records and data proposed to the OAEN. For this purpose, the authors designed two axes: the archival axis, to propose archival metrics for the appraisal of structured and unstructured data, and the data mining axis to propose algorithmic methods as complementary or/and additional metrics for the appraisal process.

Based on two axes, this exploratory study designs and tests the feasibility of archival metrics that are paired to data mining metrics, to advance, as much as possible, the digital appraisal process in a systematic or even automatic way. Under Axis 1, the authors have initiated three steps: first, the design of a conceptual framework to records data appraisal with a detailed three-dimensional approach (trustworthiness, exploitability, representativeness). In addition, the authors defined the main principles and postulates to guide the operationalization of the conceptual dimensions. Second, the operationalization proposed metrics expressed in terms of variables supported by a quantitative method for their measurement and scoring. Third, the authors shared this conceptual framework proposing the dimensions and operationalized variables (metrics) with experienced professionals to validate them. The expert’s feedback finally gave the authors an idea on: the relevance and the feasibility of these metrics. Those two aspects may demonstrate the acceptability of such method in a real-life archival practice. In parallel, Axis 2 proposes functionalities to cover not only macro analysis for data but also the algorithmic methods to enable the computation of digital archival and data mining metrics. Based on that, three use cases were proposed to imagine plausible and illustrative scenarios for the application of such a solution.

The main results demonstrate the feasibility of measuring the value of data and records with a reproducible method. More specifically, for Axis 1, the authors applied the metrics in a flexible and modular way. The authors defined also the main principles needed to enable computational scoring method. The results obtained through the expert’s consultation on the relevance of 42 metrics indicate an acceptance rate above 80%. In addition, the results show that 60% of all metrics can be automated. Regarding Axis 2, 33 functionalities were developed and proposed under six main types: macro analysis, microanalysis, statistics, retrieval, administration and, finally, the decision modeling and machine learning. The relevance of metrics and functionalities is based on the theoretical validity and computational character of their method. These results are largely satisfactory and promising.

This study offers a valuable aid to improve the validity and performance of archival appraisal processes and decision-making. Transferability and applicability of these archival and data mining metrics could be considered for other types of data. An adaptation of this method and its metrics could be tested on research data, medical data or banking data.

The purpose of this paper is to facilitate the spread of accessible e-books, especially ones of STEM much more in developing countries, an efficient/systematic scheme to localize tools for producing/reading them should be established. Furthermore, even in many advanced countries, Print-disabled people still do not have a good tool to write a content including technical notations such as mathematical formulas in their own local language. This work is aimed at giving a practical solution for those problems.

Here, multilingual support in a tool to produce accessible STEM contents and its new localization scheme are discussed.

It is shown that the accessible STEM-document editor can be customized easily for print-disabled people so that they can read and author a material including complicated technical notations in their own local language. The localization for Vietnamese and other various languages actually has been worked on.

The Vietnamese version was completed, and some prototype versions for the other languages were also given. It is expected that the software can contribute to improve STEM accessibility much more in many countries.