The rapid change in the world after the Enlightenment not only brought about revolutionary scientific and technological innovations, but also opened the door to important transformations in the context of thought. Especially with the wind created by the French Revolution, some concepts such as equality, fraternity, and justice, which were already in circulation before, came to the fore even more. One of the concepts that was magnified in this process was freedom. The concept manifested itself in philosophy as an understanding (...) of free will against the idea of determinism, and in politics as independence against oppressive governments. Since the day it was addressed as an independent topic, it has attracted attention with its different types and aspects, including freedom of the press, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and conscience. We see that the intellectual adventure of the Western world in the last two centuries has been shaped around these concepts. The libertarian attitude, which at first manifested itself as a rebellion against religious and secular authorities, was later driven to extremes that saw itself as independent from all moral and social norms. These debates were inevitably reflected in the field of theology, and topics such as the position of the will of man against God’s will, fate and the problem of evil were reconsidered according to contemporary claims and objections. The atheistic tendencies that emerged in the Western world claimed that all religions deprive man of the possibility of being an active subject on earth and that a person who believes that all his/her actions are known and determined cannot be truly free. This point is actually one of several important issues that contemporary atheism raises against theism. These debates have also reached the Islamic world and the issue continued to be addressed with similar arguments. At its core, each of these claims rests on the assumption that Islam's conception of the human being leaves no room for individual freedom. Although the problem has different aspects such as fate and theodicy, one of the most striking aspects of the problem is the question of whether man has the right to reject Islam as well as the right to enter Islam by one’s own free will. It is important to answer this question. Because some practices from the early period of Islamic history and the assumptions that apostates should be killed according to certain conditions, which are accepted as an established jurisprudence in Islamic law, have provided important opportunities for anti-Islamic ideas and ideologies. This article shows how the issue has been dealt with in the classical literature, while at the same time suggesting solutions on how to approach the phenomenon of conversion today. In addition, the study will show that the issue is dealt with in the context of public security in the fiqh literature, and therefore, the current cases of conversion or apostasy do not fully correspond to the discussions in the classical period. (shrink)

In this study, it was examined whether the Professional Ethics and Legal Issues course given at the undergraduate level contributes to the professional ethical competencies of the counselor candidates. The study group of the research consists of 63 senior guidance and psychological counseling students who took the “Professional Ethics and Legal Issues” course at a university located in the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey. Students participating in the study, 46 (73%) were female and 17 (27%) were male. Descriptive statistics (...) were used while analyzing the data of the research. In addition, the internal consistency coefficient of the pre-test and post-test applications of the data collection tool used in the research was calculated. In the study, whether there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores after the application was analyzed with the dependent groups t-test. In addition, the _Cohen d_ effect size coefficient was calculated to determine the effect sizes of the results obtained after the pre-test and post-test. Psychological Counseling Professional Ethical Competencies Evaluation Questionnaire (PCPECEQ) developed by the researcher was used as data collection tool. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that the professional ethics and legal problems course has a significant effect on the ethical competencies of the counselor candidates. This result reveals that the professional ethics course taken at the undergraduate level is an important course in terms of professional ethics competencies of counselor candidates. Considering that one of the important reasons for the ethical dilemmas of counselors working in the field is their lack of professional ethics, a professional ethics course to be given correctly at the undergraduate level will help counselor candidates to cope with possible ethical problems more effectively. (shrink)

Know the current situation of Ecuador with the analysis of migration, its economic and demographic effects. The methods used are exploratory and descriptive research, which allows us to approach the reality facing the country. The result is that in Ecuador it is preferred to hire the migrant for his lower payment, and labor exploitation is incurred towards him. A part of the migrants in Ecuador are professionals, they do not exercise their profession due to the non-legalization of their documents. It (...) is concluded that Ecuador is a chosen destination to obtain resources to send remittances to their country of origin. (shrink)

The history of mental illnesses is as old as human history. Mental disorders are affected by changing social and cultural factors during the historical process, and have been conceptually restructured and their definitions and classifications have been changed. The evolution of obssessive-compulsive disorders with roots as old as human history into modern concepts took place in the 19th century. The first scientific views on the spiritual origin of OCD belong to S. Freud. Freud observed that mental causes in OCD are (...) different from other mental disorders, and he examined obsession as a separate and specific disorder. Over time, it has been understood that OCD is a very common disorder. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has classified OCD under an independent title in the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) by removing it from the category of anxiety disorders. OCD is a mental disorder caused by mental actions such as obsessive thoughts (obsessions) and / or repetitive and compulsive behaviors (compulsion). The patient is often aware that such thoughts and behaviors are irrational and absurd. For this reason, he tries to get away obsessive thoughts that he finds contrary to his beliefs, opinions, moral values and logic from his mind. However, as he tries, obsessive thoughts become more and more frequent and create a great anxiety in the person. This time, the patient resorts to compulsions to alleviate the anxiety he feels or to get rid of it completely. As his compulsions repeat, his anxiety increases and he goes into a vicious circle. There are many symptom subgroups of OCD that seriously worsen the quality of life of the individual. One of these, and even the most overwhelming, is religious obsessions. It has been thought that there has been a relationship between religion and OCD for a long time in the psychology literature, and some remarkable studies have been conducted to clarify this relationship. Although there are many research findings showing that religion is an indispensable element in the protection of the mental health integrity of the individual, some forms of religious understanding and some experiences gained as a result of religious experiences may affect the concerns about OCD. This stage of religiosity is closely related to some sub-symptom groups of OCD. The explanations of the founder of the psychoanalytic method, Freud psychoanalytic method, and his followers made a great contribution to the understanding of OCD. However, since the psychoanalytic method exhibits a theoretically reductionist approach to religion, it is possible that the individual's devotion to religion is initially evaluated as a pathology or at least an important obstacle to insight. Today, cognitive behavioral psychotherapies are considered the most effective psychological treatment method for OCD, but their success rates in the treatment of religious OCD are low. Since religious OCD concerns often involve spiritual issues rather than concrete repeatable situations, behavioral methods can be quite difficult to apply in the treatment of religious OCD. Therefore, traditional psychotherapy approaches, even if they are not openly against religions, are insufficient to relieve the suffering in the lives of individuals with religious obsessions, as they generally neglect the religious dimension. Due to the vacuum that arises from restricting spiritual treatments to secular approaches, religious patients are threatened by the illegal practices of people who abuse religious feelings. Clinically, religious obsessions are more worrying and overwhelming. Therefore, their treatment is more difficult than others. Selective approaches that use different scientific disciplines together in the treatment of OCD and can stretch around religious beliefs and values can create more effective treatment models. Thus, the success rate in the treatment of religious OCD can be carried to higher levels thanks to the appropriate cooperation of the disciplines of medicine, psychology and theology. There is a rich religious cultural heritage that can support this collaboration in terms of theological disciplines. As an example, Abū Zayd al-Balkhī (d. 322/934), in his Maṣāliḥ al-abdān wa-l-anfus, probably made a clear distinction between neuroses and psychosis and classified neurotic disorders for the first time about ten centuries before Freud. In this study, the importance of approaching to religious obsessions as both a psychological disorder and a theological problem is emphasized. For this reason, cooperation of psychiatric and psychological approaches with spiritual counseling and guidance is recommended in the treatment of religious OCD. The difficulty in distinguishing whether the symptoms seen in a religious person are normal, natural religious thoughts and behaviors of religious life or abnormal appearances in the religious guise necessitates this interdisciplinary cooperation. (shrink)

The Qurʾān states that it is the last link in the chain of divine books, such as the Torah, Psalms, and the Gospel, and that it is also the approval and regulator of these books. As a result, there are some mutual narratives with other holy books, as well as some issues that differ from them and bring different explanations from them. These issues have been the subject of polemics, especially with Judaism and Christianity throughout the history. The crucifixion of (...) Jesus Christ formed the foundation of Christianity theology. However, the subject of ‘the cross’ has also been one of the most important issues by which Christian communities have made different explanations and interpretations since the 1st century, and have diverged accordingly. Although the docetists, who are our subject, are divided into many groups with different views, they generally accept that Jesus Christ was of a different nature from other people, had a divine nature, and therefore, it was not possible for him to be crucified. In the only verse in the Qurʾān that deals with the cross of Jesus Christ, it is mentioned that Jesus was not crucified. For this reason, a significant part of the interpretations in the commentaries have some similarities with the views of the docetics at first glance. It is possible to see more of the similarities mentioned in the commentaries, especially in the so-called “substitutionary interpretation”, in which it is stated that someone else was crucified instead of Jesus. In the Christian world, it is often claimed that Islam emerged in the Arabian Peninsula, where Christian heretics are abundant, and that it was influenced by the views of some heretic Christians. In this context, starting with John of Damascus in the 8th century, based on the above-mentioned similarities, many Christian researchers throughout the history claimed that the Qurʾān took this view from docetics. In this study, there has been an attempt to examine all of these claims. In this context, first, the docetics were researched, and as a result, it was revealed that Christians named groups with very different views from the early times as “docetic”, and that there was no standart use of the concept of “docetic” in the Christian World for centuries. It appears that it was determined that the concept would be used as a kind of umbrella concept for groups considered heretical. Then in the article, the different translations and interpretations of the verse in the Qurʾān and certain sources from the classical and modern Islamic literature were selected and identified. This led to the examination of how the said verse was understood in the Islamic world throughout the history. In this context, all types of substitutionary interpretations in the commentaries were made into a list by mentioning the sources of these interpretations, and then, these interpretations and the views of the docetics were compared. After revealing the similarities and differences in the explanations and interpretations in the commentaries and the views of the docetics, a new perspective on the subject was attempted by trying to explain the verse outside of its traditional interpretation throughout the history, considering the context of this verse and the Jewish literature. Considering that various Jewish claims about Jesus and Mary were responded to at the beginning of Qurʾānic the verse and just before the verse that mentions the cross, information in the Jewish religious literature was consulted about the allegations that Jews killed Jesus as mentioned in this verse. In this context, Jewish claims about the end of the life of Jesus in the Talmud, that they first killed him and then crucified him, were adressed and researched. Furthermore, an attempt is made to explain that the use of wa-mā qatalūhu wa-mā ṣalabūhu in the verse may be an answer to the claims of the Jews that they first killed Jesus and then crucified him. These claims of the Jews in the Talmud are further explored, and considering the context of the Jews of that time, it is explicated that these actions would not have been possible due to the political conditions in that period. Taken together, this study has attempted to address that the view claiming that docetics have an impact on the Quran via the related verse is not validand that the actual recipient of the verse is the Jews. (shrink)

The jurists, taking as reference the texts and the experiential studies of the period, preached various provisions regarding the issues such as fetal development, full birth or birth and death in this process. The majority made evaluations on the basis of the hadith about the fetal development process -mentioned in three separate periods of forty days-, but it was observed that this did not overlap with some medical guidance. Because the development period expressed by the jurists could not be prolonged, (...) it was determined that this process was completed before according to modern medicine. Jurists stated that he did not have any law regarding the fetus born before this period, since it was based on this period, and evaluated and evaluated whether those born later were alive or not. It has been presented in different jurisprudence in terms of various branches in fiqh, which is called “frequency” of the previous abortion effect after/during the full birth, and which is considered to be soul-blowing at the end of four months. These conflicts affected sons' abilities such as bathing, shrouding, burial and burial of the miscarriage. The mother also created many provisions such as her legal status such as nifas, talaq and ummu'l-veled, punishment lessons such as abortion and gurra, financial concepts such as heir and inheritance, and its effects on conditional contracts. In our study, in the event that the fetus dies due to the cell in the womb where the study medical information is located, the protections against it and the judgment it gives birth to in relation to it are discussed. (shrink)

Assuming, we show that generalized eventually narrow sequences on a strongly inaccessible cardinal κ are preserved under a one step iteration of the Hechler forcing for adding a dominating κ‐real. Moreover, we show that if κ is strongly unfoldable, and λ is a regular cardinal such that, then there is a set generic extension in which.

Molla Hasan Peşevangî was born in the Kurukaya village of Tatvan district of Bitlis in 1920 and lived in a period of time when poverty and misery prevailed in the society. He was interested in science from an early age. Since the opportunities in the region he lived in were not suitable, in terms of schools and scholars, he went on many trips to complete his knowledge and took lessons from numerous scholars. He established scientific approval after a total of (...) 17 years of demanding journeys. Molla Hasan, who started to work as an imam in the villages after receiving his scientific approval, did most of his duty in the Güzelkonak village of the Gevaş district of Van, and this situation enabled him to be referred to as Peşevangi. Molla Hasan, who is known for being ascetic and taqwa, affiliated himself to Naqshbandi sheikh Sheikh Maşuk. After dedicating himself to 10 years of spiritual pathway, he acquired the caliphate license from his Sheikh. Molla Hasan and Bediüzzaman involved in mutual correspondence. The content of these letters largely consist of queries directed by Molla Hasan to Bediüzzaman regarding scientific issues. He worked as an imam for a total of 33 years in total and instructed numerous students. Additionally, Molla Hasan, who responded the scientific questions of the people of the region, became a popular figure in terms of science and morality. Molla Hasan took it upon himself to train students wherever he worked and toward the end passed away in Van in 1998. Molla Hasan, who has publications in the fields of Sufism, Arabic language and rhetoric, Fiqh, Kalam and Tafsir, left two caliphs after him. Besides being a sufi in the line of Ahl as-Sunnah, He was instrumental in the training of many scholars, particularly in his region. In this article, Molla Hasan's life, works and his mystical views will be discussed. (shrink)

A new edge detection technique based on the texture feature coding method is proposed. The TFCM is a texture analysis scheme that is generally used in texture-based image segmentation and classification applications. The TFCM transforms an input image into a texture feature image whose pixel values represent the texture information of the pixel in the original image. Then, on the basis of the transformed image, several features are calculated as texture descriptors. In this article, the TFCM is employed differently to (...) construct an edge detector. In particular, the texture feature number of the TFCM is considered. In other words, the TFN image is used for subsequent processes. After obtaining the TFN image, a simple thresholding scheme is employed for obtaining the coarse edge image. Finally, an edge-thinning procedure is used to obtain the tuned edges. We conducted several experiments on a variety of images and compared the results with the popular existing methods such as the Sobel, Prewitt, Canny, and Canny–Deriche edge detectors. The obtained results were evaluated quantitatively with the Figure of Merit criterion. The experimental results demonstrated that our proposed method improved the edge detection performance greatly. We further implemented the proposed edge detector with a hardware system. To this end, a field programmable gate array chip was used. The related simulations were carried out with the MATLAB Simulink tool. Both software and hardware implementations demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed edge detector. (shrink)

In the ancient Arabic dictionaries, the root “ḍ-r-r” has three main meanings: “to harm”, “to gather” and “strength”. In the course of history, many words have been derived from these root meanings and have acquired various meanings. In the present article, the words derived from the root “ḍ-r-r” are semantically analyzed. First, the etymological origins of the root as well as its compounds and their meanings in early Arabic dictionaries are analyzed. In this context, it was aimed to determine the (...) literal and figurative meanings they acquired over time. In doing so, Arabic poetry of the Jahiliyyah period and hadiths were also utilized. Afterwards, in order to determine the semantic meaning pattern of the root “ḍ-r-r” and its compounds, words containing antonymous and proximate meaning relations with this root were included and their semantic relations were compared. While words have “essential meanings” that they always carry and do not lose no matter which system they enter, there are also “relative meanings” that do not originate from the root of words but arise from the system of relations they are in. For this reason, in the next stage, it was aimed to determine the relative meanings of the related words in the Qur’anic context by including the uses of the root “ḍ-r-r” and its derivatives in the Qur’an. Finally, various uses of words that have a semantically antonymous or proximate relationship with the root “ḍ-r-r” and its de-rivatives in the Qur’an were presented and their semantic pattern was tried to be determined. (shrink)

This study deals with the functions of the feuilleton, which is in the newspaper but has an important role in the development of literature. The 19th century is a period in which Westernization movements began to enter political and social life. Political developments such as the Tanzimat Edict, the Reform Edict and the acceptance of the Constitutional Monarchy had significant effects on cultural life over time. Newspaper is the most important mass communication tool of that period that accelerates this effect. (...) Journalism has an important role in the introduction and development of Western genres such as novel, Western-style story, theater into Turkish literature. The newspaper, which plays an important role in the change of Turkish literature wih new genres, has cultural effects on large masses of people. The feuilleton, which emerged with the publication of long literary texts in certain series, continued its influence in Turkish journalism for a very long time. Feuilleton paved the way for more people to meet literature by making it possible for long literary texts to appear in the newspaper. Many young writers in Turkish literature became famous for their articles in newspapers. These articles found their place in the newspapers, generally with 'feuilleton'. Feuilleton is a cultural and literary activity in terms of journalism; in case in terms of literature, copyright and translation, especially popular literature, have enabled many works to meet with the reader. Thus, by ensuring the interaction between the reader and the work, he developed rapidly in the literary gathering-place. At the same time, it prevented the authors' book printing costs. Therefore, the feuilleton built a mutually beneficial relationship between literature and journalism, and mediated the revival of intellectual life. (shrink)

Intense debates about who will lead the Muslims after the death of the Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) occurred among the Aṣḥāb (companions of the Prophet Muhammad). A group of Aṣḥāb claimed that the caliphate was the right of Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī and his descendants. This movement, which emerged as political advocacy supporting Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī (d. 40/661) and his children, took on a sectarian identity called Shīʿa by time, was divided into groups, and then spread to different places in the Islamic World. One (...) of these groups is the Ismāʿīliyya which took its name from Ismāʿīl b. Ḏj̲aʿfar al-Ṣādiḳ (d. 138/755). Ismāʿīliyya had believed that the Umayyads and the ʿAbbāsids usurped the right of Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī and his descendants; therefore, they struggled against these dynasties secretly under the leadership of ʿUbayd Allāh al-Mahdī (d. 322/934) and by means of callers. After establishing their first state Fāṭimids in the North Africa with the Berbers, the Ismāʿīlīs carried out their activities openly and seized a region from Barqa to the Atlantic Ocean. The Fāṭimid State based on sectarianism aimed to follow the Shīʿa belief rather than controlling an area since its establishment. In this respect, the Fāṭimids, who differed from the ʿAbbāsid and Umayyad states, made great efforts to capture Egypt and Andalus by increasing their propagandas through callers (dāī) from the end of the third century. Because of this effort and successful policy of al-Muʿizz li-Din Allah the third, they conquered Egypt. The callers played a key role in the Egypt. As the Sunni-Maliki sect had taken root in Andalusia, Ismāʿīlīs could not achieve the same success, and a limited number of people embraced their doctrine. However, they managed to direct some famous intellectual and literary men to their side. Undoubtedly, one of the most important achievements was Ibn Hāniʾ al-Andalusi (d. 362/973). Ibn Hāniʾ, who had to leave Andalusia, as he was a Shiite, went to Maghrib and came under the patronage of the governors of Masila, which depended on Fāṭimid. His poems about governors spread his fame and made him known until al-Qayrawan, the capital of Fāṭimid. One of the methods used by many of the caliphs and amīrs (ruler) to consolidate their rule within the borders of the state and to spread their influence abroad since the Jahiliyya (pre-Islamic period) is that they included poets who praised themselves and the state policies, in other words, made their advertisements in the palace. Ibn Hāniʾ was one of the poets Caliph Muʿizz invited to his palace in al-Mansuriyya as soon as he heard of the poet’s fame. Ibn Hāniʾ came to the presence of Caliph in 350/962 and named as al-Mutanabbī of Maghreb as he became famous than poets such as Abu'l-Qasim al-Fazari and ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Iyadi. In time, Ibn Hāniʾ who became one of the sincerest friends of Muʿizz, used all his creative potential to defend the Caliph and deliver the views of Ismāʿīliyya in return for the value and generosity he received from the Caliph. Thus, the poet, who became the most powerful defender and propagandist of the Fāṭimids who pursued an expansionist policy in the East and the West, introduced an innovation to his style of praise contrary to his classical style. Accordingly, he gained great reputation thanks to his poems that praised the Fāṭimid Imāms, especially Muʿizz using expressions attributing him superhuman properties. Naturally, the successful politics followed by Muizz and the doctrine and terms of the Shiite-Ismāʿīliyya party, which the poet advocated, had a distinct reflection on his odes. Moreover, the issue of Ahl al-Bayt (the family of the Prophet Muḥammad) and injustices they suffered, affected the poet’s feelings deeply, and he did not hesitated to express these injustices in his poems without worrying about any danger. These odes reported to be the first written documents including information about the Fāṭimid creed and the traits, which Fāṭimid Imāms were supposed to have, are important resources for researchers. Fāṭimids believed that the imām was innocent, knew everything, and he would intercede his friends on Judgment Day. They even saw him as superhuman and attributed holiness and glory to him that would make him the spirit of God. Furthermore, they regarded that the imām was the reason of life. Similar themes were very common in Ibn Hāniʾ’s poetry. His poems went beyond the borders of the states in the North Africa, spread to a large region extending from Andalusia to Baghdad, and provided recognition of the doctrine of Ismāʿīliyya. This study consists of an introduction and two parts. The introduction part includes brief information about the history of the Shīʿa-Ismāʿīliyya and Ibn Hāniʾ’s life and poetry. The other parts discuss reflections of the Shīʿa-Ismāʿīliyya belief in the poet’s odes and analyses of these poems. Finally, poems having historical and political value related to Karbala, which has profound effects on Shiite literature, are analyzed. (shrink)

Watermarking is one of the most common techniques used to protect data’s authenticity, integrity, and security. The obfuscation in the frequency domain used in the watermarking method makes the watermarking stronger than the obfuscation in the spatial domain. It occupies an important place in watermarking works in imperceptibility, capacity, and robustness. Finding the optimal location to hide the watermarking is one of the most challenging tasks in these methods and affects the method’s performance. In this article, sample identification information is (...) processed with the method of watermaking on the hiding environment created by using a chaos-based random number generator on biomedical data to provide solutions to problems such as visual attack, identity theft, and information confusion. In order to obtain biomedical data, a lensless digital in-line holographic microscopy setup was designed, and holographic data of human blood and cancer cell lines, which are widely used in the laboratory environment, were obtained. The standard USAF 1951 target was used to evaluate the resolution of our imaging setup. Various QR codes were generated for medical sample identification, and the captured medical data were processed by watermarking it with chaos-based random number generators. A new method using chaos-based discrete wavelet transform and singular value decomposition has been developed and applied to high-resolution data to eliminate the problem of encrypted data being directly targeted by third-party attacks. The performance of the proposed new watermarking method has been demonstrated by various robustness and invisibility tests. Experimental results showed that the proposed scheme reached an average PSNR value of 564588 dB and SSIM value of 0.9972 against several geometric and destructive attacks, which means that the proposed method does not affect the image quality and also ensures the security of the watermarking information. The results of the proposed method have shown that it can be used efficiently in various fields. (shrink)

Over the past 25 years, there has been growing recognition of the importance of studying the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of genetic and genomic research. A large investment into ELSI research from the National Institutes of Health Human Genomic Project budget in 1990 stimulated the growth of this emerging field; ELSI research has continued to develop and is starting to emerge as a field in its own right. The evolving subject matter of ELSI research continues to raise new research (...) questions as well as prompt re-evaluation of earlier work and a growing number of scholars working in this area now identify themselves as ELSI scholars rather than with a particular discipline. Due to the international and interdisciplinary nature of ELSI research, scholars can often find themselves isolated from disciplinary or regionally situated support structures. We conducted a workshop with Early Career Researchers in Oxford, UK, and this paper discusses some of the particular challenges that were highlighted. While ELSI ECRs may face many of the universal challenges faced by ECRs, we argue that a number of challenges are either unique or exacerbated in the case of ELSI ECRs and discuss some of the reasons as to why this may be the case. We identify some of the most pressing issues for ELSI ECRs as: interdisciplinary angst and expertise, isolation from traditional support structures, limited resources and funding opportunities, and uncertainty regarding how research contributions will be measured. We discuss the potential opportunity to use web 2.0 technologies to transform academic support structures and address some of the challenges faced by ELSI ECRs, by helping to facilitate mentoring and support, access to resources and new accreditation metrics. As our field develops it is crucial for the ELSI community to continue looking forward to identify how emerging digital solutions can be used to facilitate the international and interdisciplinary research we perform, and to offer support for those embarking on, progressing through, and transitioning into an ELSI research career. (shrink)

. Effective text region extraction and binarization of image embedded text documents on mobile devices having limited computational resources is an open research problem. In this paper, we present one such technique for preprocessing images captured with built-in cameras of handheld devices with an aim of developing an efficient Business Card Reader. At first, the card image is processed for isolating foreground components. These foreground components are classified as either text or non-text using different feature descriptors of texts and images. (...) The non-text components are removed and the textual ones are binarized with a fast adaptive algorithm. Specifically, we propose new techniques for foreground component isolation, text extraction and binarization of text regions from camera captured business card images. Experiments with business card images of various resolutions show that the present technique yields better accuracy and involves low computational overhead in comparison with the state-of-the-art. We achieve optimum text/non-text separation performance with images of resolution 800×600 pixels with an average recall rate of 93.90% and a precision rate of 96.84%. It involves a peak memory consumption of 0.68 MB and processing time of 0.102 seconds on a moderately powerful notebook, and 4 seconds of processing time on a PDA. (shrink)

This sixth volume of Collected Papers includes 74 papers comprising 974 pages on (theoretic and applied) neutrosophics, written between 2015-2021 by the author alone or in collaboration with the following 121 co-authors from 19 countries: Mohamed Abdel-Basset, Abdel Nasser H. Zaied, Abduallah Gamal, Amir Abdullah, Firoz Ahmad, Nadeem Ahmad, Ahmad Yusuf Adhami, Ahmed Aboelfetouh, Ahmed Mostafa Khalil, Shariful Alam, W. Alharbi, Ali Hassan, Mumtaz Ali, Amira S. Ashour, Asmaa Atef, Assia Bakali, Ayoub Bahnasse, A. A. Azzam, Willem K.M. Brauers, Bui (...) Cong Cuong, Fausto Cavallaro, Ahmet Çevik, Robby I. Chandra, Kalaivani Chandran, Victor Chang, Chang Su Kim, Jyotir Moy Chatterjee, Victor Christianto, Chunxin Bo, Mihaela Colhon, Shyamal Dalapati, Arindam Dey, Dunqian Cao, Fahad Alsharari, Faruk Karaaslan, Aleksandra Fedajev, Daniela Gîfu, Hina Gulzar, Haitham A. El-Ghareeb, Masooma Raza Hashmi, Hewayda El-Ghawalby, Hoang Viet Long, Le Hoang Son, F. Nirmala Irudayam, Branislav Ivanov, S. Jafari, Jeong Gon Lee, Milena Jevtić, Sudan Jha, Junhui Kim, Ilanthenral Kandasamy, W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy, Darjan Karabašević, Songül Karabatak, Abdullah Kargın, M. Karthika, Ieva Meidute-Kavaliauskiene, Madad Khan, Majid Khan, Manju Khari, Kifayat Ullah, K. Kishore, Kul Hur, Santanu Kumar Patro, Prem Kumar Singh, Raghvendra Kumar, Tapan Kumar Roy, Malayalan Lathamaheswari, Luu Quoc Dat, T. Madhumathi, Tahir Mahmood, Mladjan Maksimovic, Gunasekaran Manogaran, Nivetha Martin, M. Kasi Mayan, Mai Mohamed, Mohamed Talea, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Gulistan, Raja Muhammad Hashim, Muhammad Riaz, Muhammad Saeed, Rana Muhammad Zulqarnain, Nada A. Nabeeh, Deivanayagampillai Nagarajan, Xenia Negrea, Nguyen Xuan Thao, Jagan M. Obbineni, Angelo de Oliveira, M. Parimala, Gabrijela Popovic, Ishaani Priyadarshini, Yaser Saber, Mehmet Șahin, Said Broumi, A. A. Salama, M. Saleh, Ganeshsree Selvachandran, Dönüș Șengür, Shio Gai Quek, Songtao Shao, Dragiša Stanujkić, Surapati Pramanik, Swathi Sundari Sundaramoorthy, Mirela Teodorescu, Selçuk Topal, Muhammed Turhan, Alptekin Ulutaș, Luige Vlădăreanu, Victor Vlădăreanu, Ştefan Vlăduţescu, Dan Valeriu Voinea, Volkan Duran, Navneet Yadav, Yanhui Guo, Naveed Yaqoob, Yongquan Zhou, Young Bae Jun, Xiaohong Zhang, Xiao Long Xin, Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas. (shrink)