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Hybrid Intelligent Techniques for
Pattern Analysis and
Understanding
Hybrid Intelligent Techniques for
Pattern Analysis and
Understanding

Edited by
Siddhartha Bhattacharyya, Anirban Mukherjee,
Indrajit Pan, Paramartha Dutta,
and Arup Kumar Bhaumik
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Contents

Foreword vii

Preface ix

Contributors xiii

1 Offline Writer Verification Based on Bangla Handwritten Characters

Using Enhanced Textual Feature
Jaya Paul, Anasua Sarkar, Chayan Halder, and Kaushik Roy 1

2 Hybrid Intelligence Techniques for Handwritten Digit Recognition

Hemant Jain, Ryan Serrao, and B.K. Tripathy 23

3 Artificial Immune Recognition System for Offline Handwritten

Signature Verification
Yasmine Serdouk, Hassiba Nemmour, and Youcef Chibani 49

4 Parametric Object Detection Using Estimation of Distribution

Algorithms
Ivan Cruz-Aceves, Jesus Guerrero-Turrubiates, and Juan Manuel Sierra-Hernandez 69

5 Hybrid Approach towards Malaria Parasites Detection

from Thin Blood Smear Image
Sanjay Nag, Nabanita Basu, and Samir Kumar Bandyopadhyay 93

6 Noise Removal Techniques in Medical Images

Ranjit Biswas and Sudipta Roy 123

7 Face Recognition–Oriented Biometric Security System

Geetika Singh and Indu Chhabra 145

8 Optimization of Hand Motion Recognition System Based

on 2D HMM Approach Using ABC Algorithm
K. Martin Sagayam, D. Jude Hemanth, Yadav Nitesh Ramprasad,
and Raghav Menon 167

v
vi Contents

9 Smart Visual Surveillance Technique for Better Crime Management

Narendra Rao T. J. and Jeny Rajan 193

10 Watershed Image Analysis Using a PSO-CA Hybrid Approach

Kalyan Mahata, Rajib Das, Subhasish Das, and Anasua Sarkar 229

11 An Analysis of Brain MRI Segmentation

Tuhin Utsab Paul and Samir Kumar Bandhyopadhyay 247

12 Haralick’s Texture Descriptors for Classification of Renal Ultrasound

Images
Komal Sharma and Jitendra Virmani 277

13 A Self-Organizing Map-Based Spectral Clustering on Shortest Path

of a Graph
Parthajit Roy, Swati Adhikari, and J. K. Mandal 311

14 Quantum Algorithm for Sequence Clustering

Arit Kumar Bishwas, Ashish Mani, and Vasile Palade 345

Index 365
Foreword

Many real-life problems suffer from uncertainty, imprecision, and vagueness; and because of
this, conventional computing paradigms often fall short of a solution. Even the latest intelli-
gent computing paradigms are frequently insufficiently robust. Hybrid intelligent computing
is an alternative paradigm which addresses these issues upfront.
An intelligent machine is called so because of the various methodologies offered by the
soft computing paradigm, including fuzzy and rough set theory, artificial neurocomputing,
evolutionary computing, and approximate reasoning. At times, none of these techniques
meet the demands of the real situation, but an effective symbiosis of more than one can offer
a formidable and/or robust solution. This is because all of these soft computing techniques
suffer from limitations. Thus the impetus is for hybrid methodologies, the spirit of which is
to exploit the strengths of one technique to supplement the limitations of another. Of late,
there is enormous growth of research exploration of injecting elements of intelligence using
efficient hybrid techniques. All these initiatives indicate that the individual soft computing
techniques do not conflict but rather complement one another. Hybrid intelligent systems
stem from the synergistic integration of the different soft computing tools and techniques.
The fusion of these techniques toward achieving enhanced performance and more robust
solutions can be achieved through proper hybridization. In fact, recent reports reveal the
inherent strength of such hybridization of computational methods.
Pattern analysis and understanding have been daunting tasks in the computer vision
research community given the vast amount of uncertainty involved. Proper analysis of pat-
terns plays a key role in many real-life applications. Traditional applications include pat-
tern recognition, image processing, image mining, object recognition, video surveillance, and
intelligent transportation systems. As an example, wrinkles due to aging can often be used
for the estimation of age progression in face images. This can be an enormous help in tracing
unknown or missing persons. Images exhibit varied uncertainty and ambiguity of information
and hence understanding an image scene is far from being a general procedure. The situation
becomes even more difficult when the images become corrupted with noise artifacts.
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 all deal with handwriting recognition, in Bangla characters, digits,
and signatures, respectively. Handwriting recognition is a very important application for
identity verification and for any kind of machine input such as with PDAs, postal addresses,
or data entry. As integration of the Web and computing in general becomes more and more
common, these problems of interface will only become more important. The authors use a
number of different hybrid methodologies, and, in general, show that hybrid approaches can
enhance distinction accuracy and effectiveness when compared to current state-of-the-art
approaches.
Chapter 4 presents a new strategy for the detection of simple parametric objects in
images, called estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs). The authors show that EDA
compares favorably with two variants of the Hough transform method in terms of compu-
tational time necessary.
Chapters 5 and 6 both deal with medical applications of machine learning. In Chapter 5,
the different phases involved in detection of the malarial parasite in blood smears are dealt
with using appropriate methods tailored to the challenges of each stage. In Chapter 6, the

vii
viii Foreword

authors specifically look at image improvement in MRIs, mammograms, and ultrasound,

which is necessary due to different types of noise that can occur, using curvelet transform
thresholding combined with a Weiner filter.
In Chapter 7, the authors consider the important problem of face recognition and pro-
pose an improved optimal feature selection procedure for better recognition accuracy and
demonstrate its utility in comparison with existing techniques.
Chapter 8 deals with motion recognition for use in gaming interface applications. Com-
bining Markov models to find feature points with an artificial bee colony algorithm for
optimization improves performance compared to existing techniques.
Chapter 9 deals with smart visual surveillance using a contextual information-based
anomalous activity detection and localization algorithm. Unusual event detection is based
on a probabilistic estimation of regions being normal. Adaptive inference mechanisms are
used to determine the decision-making thresholds for anomalous event detection.
In Chapter 10, the authors introduce a new hybrid method combining particle swarm
optimization with cellular automata. The method uses fuzzy membership values to iden-
tify clusters, then 2D interconnected cell processing to prioritize exclusion of outliers. The
authors apply the method to pixel classification and show improvement over several current
methodologies.
Chapter 11 deals with segmentation methods. In this chapter, the authors provide a
comprehensive review of the existing segmentation techniques in the analysis of brain MR
images including hybrid procedures.
Chapter 12 uses a computer aided classification system for renal ultrasound images,
for the detection of renal disease. Three methods are compared using both the signal and
transform domains, and an optimal design is constructed for clinical use.
The book concludes with two chapters dealing with big data. In Chapter 13, the au-
thors propose a new data clustering method for large datasets applying a self-organizing map
algorithm to cluster data by using the Laplacian spectra of a graph. The method is com-
pared with current data clustering models on standard datasets. In Chapter 14, the authors
propose a hybrid quantum algorithm for sequence clustering based on quantum K-means
clustering and a hidden Markov model. Evidence for an exponential speedup in run-time
complexity compared to classical approaches is provided.
The editors have done a commendable job in bringing this volume as a rare collection of
the applications of hybrid intelligence to pattern recognition and analysis. I hope that the
present volume will come in good stead for young researchers in this domain.

Elizabeth Behrman
Kansan, USA
April, 2017
Preface

With the extensive research in the intelligent computing paradigm applied to various prob-
lems over a few decades, the shortcomings of every component of this paradigm have gradu-
ally become prominent. It is an undeniable fact that each individual ingredient of intelligent
computing, be it fuzzy mathematics or evolutionary computation, if not an artificial neural
network, has its own points in its favor. However, with the passage of time, human civiliza-
tion starts appreciating the drawbacks of individual components, thereby necessitating the
need of up-gradation into the next-generation computational platforms. Hybrid intelligent
computing appears as the natural extrapolation of the field of computational intelligence.
Through the process of hybridization, the limitation of one ingredient is supplemented by
the strength of the other. Because of this collaborative performance, a surge of research
initiatives is observed nowadays. Researchers have put in all their efforts to explore and
exploit the power of hybrid intelligence as an alternative paradigm altogether. In other
words, there has been a paradigm shift in the effort of research in the relevant field. In the
present scope, the editors are trying to bring some recent findings of researchers engaged
in hybrid intelligence research by identifying pattern recognition and related issues as the
application domain. The spectrum is kept balanced. It is not too broad, with an aim to
encourage contribution focused in and around pattern recognition. On the other hand, it
has been meticulously maintained that the spectrum must not be too limited, so that a
researcher engaged in research in a relevant field may enjoy every scope to ventilate his/her
ideas in the form of tangible contribution. It is indeed encouraging for the editors to come
across fourteen chapters, which have been thoroughly peer reviewed and accommodated in
the present treatise.
In Chapter 1, the authors verify a writer from his/her handwritten text with adequate
empirical justification by using an efficient combination of the dual tree complex wavelet
transform (DTCWT) and gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) to enhance the relevant
texture feature.
A similar problem of handwritten digit recognition is the domain of investigation of the
authors of Chapter 2. They offer an effective hybridization to meet this goal. Elaboration in
the form of discussion on other techniques for the said problem is an added point of interest
of this chapter.
A very close application of handwritten signature recognition comes under the purview
of Chapter 3, where the authors offer an offline classification algorithm based on bio-inspired
ingredients and justify its efficacy on available benchmark datasets.
Effectiveness of estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs) for detection of geometric
objects such as line, circle, parabola, etc. as well as retinal fundus images, is substantiated
with ample experimentations by the authors of Chapter 4. They have worked on two variants
for this purpose, justifying impressive performance primarily with respect to computational
time.
A comprehensive machine learning approach is offered by the authors of Chapter 5.
They have shown the significance of their approach by dint of their thorough empirical
experiments in the context of detection of the malaria parasite in blood smear.
Noise classification is very sensitive and crucial in medical image processing mainly be-
cause of the associated medical implication. The result of a wrong classification at times may

ix
x Preface

be catastrophic in certain contexts. The authors address this important issue in Chapter 6
with respect to different medical imaging modalities and share some of their impressive
findings in this regard.
Chapter 7 handles how faces recognition may offer an avenue in respect to biometric
authentication. The authors elaborate the problem pertaining to face recognition for this
purpose, duly addressing the sensitivity associated therein.
The hand motion recognition system (HMRS), an indispensable component of gesture
recognition comprising multiple steps to achieve its goal, needs effective optimization of the
Markov state sequence obtained in some intermediate step in order to ensure subsequent
operative performance of the system. In Chapter 8, authors offer the artificial bee colony
approach to achieve this goal.
A very timely and important challenge of developing a smart visual surveillance method-
ology aiming at effective crime management is the contribution of the authors in Chapter 9.
The authors in Chapter 10 exhibit the effectiveness of hybridization in watershed image
analysis. They justify it by means of extensive experimentations which also indicate the
performance supremacy of such a hybrid technique over prior arts.
Medical imaging plays a crucial role in diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) nowadays, is an indispensable tool used for medical purposes. The
authors take up the sensitive issue of segmentation of such images in Chapter 11, which
also supplements relevant information as an effective compilation.
An important task of classification of renal ultrasound images is taken up by the au-
thors in Chapter 12. They use Haralick’s texture descriptors to achieve this purpose, whose
effectiveness is further justified by the extensive experimentation.
Effective application of the Self-organizing map (SOM) using Laplacian spectra of a
graph to achieve clustering of large non-categorical datasets is what is contributed by the
authors in Chapter 13.
In the final chapter, the authors deal with the problem of clustering in the big data
paradigm by using quantum K-means clustering applied on big data sequences represented
in terms of quantum states with the help of quantum RAM (QRAM).
The editors of this volume leave no stone unturned to make a meaningful compilation
of recent research trends. The treatise contains fourteen chapters encompassing various
application domains. The authors of different contributing chapters share some of their
latest findings in the present scope. It is needless to mention that such an effort on the
part of the editors to come out with an edited volume is possible only because of the
efforts rendered by the authors. The editors also want to avail this opportunity to express
their thanks to CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group as an international publishing house of
eminence to provide the scope to make the efforts of the present editors to bring out such
a compilation. The editors would also like to take this opportunity to render their heartfelt
thanks to Ms. Aastha Sharma for her continuous guidance during the project tenure. But
for their active cooperation, this would not have met such a success. Last but not the least,
the editors earnestly feel like expressing their gratitude to those whose names may not figure
here but who have helped in converting the present initiative into a fruitful one.

Siddhartha Bhattacharyya Paramartha Dutta

Kolkata, India Santiniketan, India
Anirban Mukherjee Arup Kumar Bhaumik
Kolkata, India Kolkata, India
Indrajit Pan April 2017
Kolkata, India
 Preface xi

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Contributors

Swati Adhikari Ivan Cruz-Aceves

Department of Computer Science Departamento de Ingenierı́a Electrónica
University of Burdwan Centro de Investigación en
Burdwan, India Matemáticas
Guanajuato, Mexico
Samir Kumar Bandyopadhyay
Department of Computer Science & Rajib Das
Engineering School of Water Resources Engineering
University of Calcutta Jadavpur University
Kolkata, India Kolkata, India

Subhasish Das
Nabanita Basu
School of Water Resources Engineering
Department of Computer Science &
Jadavpur University
Engineering
Kolkata, India
University of Calcutta
Kolkata, India Jesus Guerrero-Turrubiates
División de Ingenierı́as Campus
Arit Kumar Bishwas Irapuato-Salamanca
Department of Information Universidad de Guanajuato
Technology Guanajuato, Mexico
Amity University
Noida, India Chayan Halder
Department of Computer Science
Ranjit Biswas West Bengal State University
Department of Computer Science and Barasat, India
Engineering
Assam University D. Jude Hemanth
Silchar, India Department of Electronics and
Communication Engineering
Indu Chhabra Karunya University
Coimbatore, India
Department of Computer Science and
Applications Hemant Jain
Panjab University Division of Software Systems
Chandigarh, India VIT University
Vellore, India
Youcef Chibani
Department of Electronic and Computer Kalyan Mahata
Sciences Information Technology Department
University of Sciences Government College of Engineering and
and Technology Houari Boumediene Leather Technology
Algiers, Algeria Kolkata, India

xiii
xiv Contributors

J. K. Mandal Jeny Rajan

Department of Computer Science & Department of Computer Science and
Engineering Engineering
University of Kalyani National Institute of Technology Karnataka
Kalyani, India Mangalore, India

Ashish Mani Yadav Nitesh Ramprasad

Department of Electrical & Electronic Department of CSE
Engineering Karunya University
Coimbatore, India
Amity University
Noida, India
Narendra Rao T. J.
Department of Computer Science and
Raghav Menon
Engineering
Department of Electronics and National Institute of Technology Karnataka
Communication Engineering Mangalore, India
Kumaraguru College of
Technology Kaushik Roy
Coimbatore, India Department of Computer Science
West Bengal State University
Sanjay Nag Barasat, India
Department of Computer Science &
Engineering Parthajit Roy
University of Calcutta Department of Computer Science
Kolkata, India University of Burdwan
Burdwan, India
Hassiba Nemmour
Department of Electronic and Computer Sudipta Roy
Sciences Department of Computer Science and
University of Sciences and Technology Engineering
Houari Boumediene Assam University
Algiers, Algeria Silchar, India

Vasile Palade K. Martin Sagayam

Department of ECE
Faculty of Engineering and Computing
Karunya University
Coventry University
Coimbatore, India
Coventry, UK
Anasua Sarkar
Jaya Paul Computer Science and Engineering
Information Technology Department Department
Government College of Engineering and Jadavpur University
Leather Technology Kolkata, India
Kolkata, India
Yasmine Serdouk
Tuhin Utsab Paul Department of Electronic and Computer
Department of Computer Science & Sciences
Engineering University of Sciences and Technology
Amity University Houari Boumediene
Kolkata, India Algiers, Algeria
 Contributors xv

Ryan Serrao Geetika Singh

Division of Software Systems Department of Computer Science and
VIT University Applications
Vellore, India Panjab University
Chandigarh, India
Komal Sharma
Department of Electrical and B. K. Tripathy
Instrumentation Engineering Division of Software Systems
Thapar University VIT University
Patiala, India Vellore, India

Juan Manuel Sierra-Hernandez Jitendra Virmani

División de Ingenierı́as Campus Council of Scientific Industrial Research
Irapuato-Salamanca Central Scientific Instruments Organization
Guanajuato, Mexico Chandigarh, India
Chapter 1
Offline Writer Verification Based on
Bangla Handwritten Characters Using
Enhanced Textual Feature

Jaya Paul, Anasua Sarkar, Chayan Halder, and Kaushik Roy

1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Literature Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 Offline and pseudo-dynamic approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.2 Approaches of writer-dependent and writer-independent
methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.3 Writer identification (many to one) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.4 Writer verification (one-to-one matching) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.5 Biometric property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.6 Handwriting as biometric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.7 Types of writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.8 Genuine writer or original writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.9 Forged writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.10 Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Introduction to Bangla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3.1 Bangla script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Data Collection and PreProcessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.6 Feature Extraction Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6.1 Feature extraction based on dual-tree complex wavelet
transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6.2 Feature extraction based on GLCM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6.3 Edge direction information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.7 Dissimilarity Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.8 Classification Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.8.1 Multi-layer perceptrons networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.8.2 Simple logistic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.8.3 Radial basis function networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.9 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.9.1 Performance evaluation criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.9.2 Dissimilarity vector calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.10 Verification Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.11 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

1
2 Hybrid Intelligent Techniques for Pattern Analysis and Understanding

1.1 Introduction
Writer verification has been magnetizing the attraction of the researchers as a most im-
portant role play for writer authentication. The last few years, many algorithms and systems
with high authentication rates have been introduced. Various approaches for handwritten
character authentication problem have been developed [1–4]. Some approaches are worked
in Bangla characters [5]. In one of the relevant early works, the likelihood ratio is used
in forensic document identification [6]. The statistical model [7,8] is used for writer verifi-
cation and also includes a mathematical formula for calculating the strength of evidence
of same/different writer. The approaches are classified into two categories, namely online
systems and offline systems. The handwritten shape and stock information are available in
online verification system [9], but this information is unavailable for the offline method. The
offline system is more complex than the online system. There has not been much work on
the verification of handwritten Bangla characters [9,10]. Therefore, there is a pressing need
for such a system. The present paper deals with writer verification based on handwritten
Bangla characters.

1.2 Literature Survey

In the literature, different works can be found on writer verification. Text-independent
and text-dependent data sets are available in the writer verification system. In the text-
dependent method, the text contents are same for known and unknown writers. The text-
dependent system for writer verification offers higher discriminative power using small
amount of data, as compared to text-independent methods [11]. The text-independent sys-
tem finds similarity between writing patterns to verify the writers. Forgery possibility is
reduced for text-independent and needs a large volume of data. But the text-dependent
method increases the forgery case due to copy of same text. But it is very useful in signature
verification where most of the time the genuine writer uses the system and not suitable
for frequent rejection. In the text-independent method forgery is reduced, but it needs
more data samples. In this case it is possible that the genuine writer can also be rejected.
The writer verification uses in different purposes, like historical document analysis [12],
graphology, mobile devices [13], DNA and fingerprints are also used in terms of verifica-
tion [14].

1.2.1 Offline and pseudo-dynamic approaches

Earlier works [15] and [16] have proposed many methods for writer verification. Hand-
writing shape information has been widely used in offline writer verification mode. Primary
methods that are used for character shape information of handwritting are referred to as
offline approaches [15,16]. Gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM)[17] and dual-tree com-
plex wavelet transforms (DT-CWT) features are frequently used in Bangla character and
writer verification [18–20]. In [21], the researchers propose a method that estimates dy-
namic information from static handwriting. All these methods are calling pseudo-dynamic
approaches and are resistant to forged handwriting. The methods are categorized into
used motor control theory [22] and temporal order of stroke production. Ferrer et al. [23]
propose methods that explain intensity variation and stroke information. Earlier forensic
 Offline Writer Verification Based on Bangla Handwritten Characters 3

science studies [24,25] report the usefulness estimate of dynamic information from static
handwriting.
To enhance the performance of the writer verification system, we have proposed a new
approach to extract texture information from the handwriting sample [18,20]. The sur-
vey [19,20] show texture descriptors, texture based features and dissimilarity. Local binary
patterns and phase quantization have been used in [19] writer identification. In [20] the
scientists achieve the performance of 96.1%. Some examples of this scheme can be found
in Marti et al. [26], Srihari et al. [27], Bulacu et al. [28], Bensefia et al. [29], Siddiqi and
Vincent [30].

1.2.2 Approaches of writer-dependent and writer-independent methods

Writer-dependent builds on one specific model per writer. The drawback of this method
is that a new model needs to be built for a new writer [15,16]. Another important issue in
this method is that usually a substantial amount of data is need to construct a well-founded
model. However, this type of approach used for signature verification.
The writer-independent method is based on the FDE (forensic document examination)
approach, which considers the intraclass (writer) and interclass (writer) similarities of hand-
written characters. This model classifies the handwriting into two authenticity classes. The
two classes are genuine and forgery. This approach is used in various work [31]. The prob-
ability distributions (PDF) of interclass (writer) and intraclass (writer) are collected from
training samples in the writer-independent approach. Comparing these probability density
function values, the original author of that document is decided by dissimilarity. Based on
the concept of dissimilarity, the writer-independent method used a distance metric [32].
Muramatsu and Matsumoto [33] propose a model which used user specific dissimilarity vec-
tors that combine original dissimilarity and used mean vector for each writer. It is considered
as a distance of different writers and individual characteristics in handwriting.
Most of the identification and verification works on western script (like Roman script).
Srihari et al. [34], Bulacu et al. [28], Bensefia et al. [29], Siddiqi and Vincent [30], etc.
Doermann and Jain propose an identification system which used the multi-script writers on
the English, Arabic and Greek languages [35].

1.2.3 Writer identification (many to one)

Writer identification systems must recognize a writer among N number of writers in a
large dataset. The process of identifying a person involves performing comparisons among
multiple handwritings. These systems aim to confirm identity and build on writer infor-
mation. A variety of features have been proposed, like structural or statistical and local or
global. All these features are served to distinguish the individual writer from other writ-
ers. Said et al. [3] used Gabor filters and co-occurrence matrices to identify the writer and
consider each writer’s handwriting as a different texture. Macro and micro features are
extracted [34] from the document and establish the individuality of handwriting. The
research pursued in [36] proposes an identification system [26] which extracts structural
features from each line of handwritten documents.

1.2.4 Writer verification (one-to-one matching)

A writer verification system decides whether a handwritten document belongs to the
same writer or different writers. It is the validity checking procedure for the claimed identity.
Naturally, the writer verification issue is a true/false problem. Signature verification is one
4 Hybrid Intelligent Techniques for Pattern Analysis and Understanding

of the ways which is used with many different methods of classification as reported in
the survey, namely distance measures [1,37], dissimilarity [38], hidden Markov models [39],
Bayesian classifiers [40], and grapheme clustering [29].
The manual process of document examination is a tedious job and is also very time-
consuming. Srihari et al. [41] introduce a handwriting examination system, which is known
as CEDAR-FOX. This system can be used in writer verification as well as in signature
verification.

1.2.5 Biometric property

Nowadays the biometric property is used in different areas in our daily life. This property
is a human identification system by determining the authenticity of particular behavioral
features [42]. A small portion of the biometric properties of a human are used in different
applications. A general biometric system is shown in Figure 1.1.
A number of biometric properties have been used in several areas [43]. For the requi-
rements of the system, a specific biometric property is used. Some applications of biometric
properties are found in the face recognition system [44], with two phases—face detection
and tracking. Some other methods are—facial matching, fingerprint recognition [45], hand
geometric recognition [46], personal recognition [47], retina recognition [48], voice recog-
nition [49], sclera recognition [50], and keystroke dynamics [51]. In Figure 1.2, we show
different examples of the biometric characteristics.

1.2.6 Handwriting as biometric

Handwriting biometric is the authentication process of identifying the author of a given
handwritten text, offline or online. Automated handwritten documents and signatures (on-
line, offline) are considered the most socially and legally accepted property for authenti-
cation. Writer verification and writer identification are methods for writer authentication
based on the system. Signature identification [52] and verification are also authentication
methods based on the system. Signature verification [53] and identification can be either
dynamic or static. In the offline mode, digital images of handwritten documents are avail-
able. In the online mode, documents are acquired by means of pen-sensitive computer
displays or graphic tablets. A handwritten document is a biometric property generated by
a composite method arising in the writer’s brain [54]. Handwriting-based authentication
is commonly used in forensic document examination [25]. The main aim of the forensic
document examination is to provide enough evidence about questionable documents, using
various scientific methods.

Biometric sample Preprocessing Feature extraction

Accepted/ Decision making Feature matching

Rejected

Biometric database

FIGURE 1.1: General biometric model.

 Offline Writer Verification Based on Bangla Handwritten Characters 5

(a) (b) (c) (d)

(e) (f ) (g) (h)

FIGURE 1.2: Examples of biometric characteristics: (a) voice, (b) fingerprint, (c) hand
geometry, (d) sclera, (e) face, (f) iris, (g) keystroke, (h) handwriting.

1.2.7 Types of writers

On the literature survey, the field of writer verification generally considers two different
types of writers. First is the genuine writers or original writer; second is the forged writer.

1.2.8 Genuine writer or original writer

When a handwritten document is produced by an authentic writer under normal con-
ditions, the writer is called the genuine writer or original writer. The interwriter stability
and variability of the original writer are affected by many factors, such as age, mental state,
habit, and practical conditions [53].

1.2.9 Forged writer

There are usually two different types of forgeries available. The first one is the unskilled
forgery, which is written by a person who does not know the pattern of the original or
may be without much practice. The second type is a skilled forgery where a copy of the
document is represented as an original or written by the genuine writer. Various skill levels
of forgeries can be found in Nguyen et al. [55].

1.2.10 Database
A handwriting database has great importance in our study of writer verification area. All
the research works into the writer verification field as they have been conducted for several
years, there have some different languages of standard offline databases are created. Bulacu
et al. [38] created a system on writer verification and identification on Roman databases
like the IAM database [56], Unipen database [57], and Firemaker set [58]. They propose
to combine allographic and textural features for text-independent writer identification with
Arabic script. But due to the lack of availability of a Bangla script database, the development
of a Bengali writer verification system has been negatively affected. Only Halder and Roy
6 Hybrid Intelligent Techniques for Pattern Analysis and Understanding

[10] used Bangla characters (covering all alphabets, vowel modifiers, vowel modifiers) and
Bangla numerals in [58] for writer identification in their research works.

1.3 Introduction to Bangla

1.3.1 Bangla script
Bangla is the seventh most popular language in the world and the second most popular
language in India [59]. Almost 200 million people in the eastern part of the Indian subconti-
nent speak this language [59]. Bangla alphabets are used in texts of Bangla, Manipuri, and
Assamese languages. Bangla script has more than 250 characters (consonants, vowels, and
compound characters). A lot of research has already been done in this direction for several
scripts [1,3]. The works have been applied successfully to various commercial applications,
such as question document examination, bank check verification, etc. [7,60].
The biometric-based authentication system is used for two purposes: identification and
verification.
Bangla has 11 vowels and 40 consonants and these are called the basic Bangla characters.
It has lots of numbers, compound shapes, and complex letters. Figure 1.3 shows an example
of Bangla alphabets. In Figure 1.3, we show the Bangla character shapes which are more
complex than the Roman scripts. There exists a horizontal line (called a matra) which is

(a) Bangla
consonants

(b) Bangla vowels

FIGURE 1.3: Examples of (a) Bangla consonants and (b) Bangla vowels.
 Offline Writer Verification Based on Bangla Handwritten Characters 7

sometimes absent for certain characters. In Bangla script, a vowel following a consonant
takes a modified shape. This modified shape is placed at the left, right, and bottom of
the consonant, or both at left and right. These modified shapes are called the modified
characters.
The handwritten character verification system which is proposed in this article con-
sists of four major phases: preprocessing phase, feature extraction techniques, dissimilarity
measurement in the process calculating Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence distances on the
questioned document examinations between same-writer and different-writer samples, and
finally, the classification phase.
In order to construct a more precise verification system, the following four methods are
combined in this work:
1. DT-CWT feature extraction.

2. GLCM feature extraction.

3. KL divergence distance measure on writers.
4. Different benchmark classification methods.

1.4 Method
In this section, the overall idea of the proposed method has been described. For
the present work, we have contemplated a sample database of 150 writers, consisting of
different Bangla Isolated characters: consonants, vowels, numericals, and vowel modifiers
are collected. The different- and same-writer variations can be seen in the distance value
(dissimilarity measure) among handwriting from different writers. The experts analyze
and verify the writers on the basis of these distance values. We can see the difference
in Figure 1.4. In this work, we have used combined textural features of DT-CWT and
GLCM to obtain that difference for writer verification. To verify unknown writers com-
paring a database of known writers, first textural features are calculated, then the dis-
similarity feature vector is calculated and finally using them, the verification result is
obtained.
Figure 1.5 depicts the proposed diagram of the writer verification process. At first,
the collected data are preprocessed and the textural feature extraction methods of

FIGURE 1.4: Sample of four different isolated Bangla characters from three different
writers.
8 Hybrid Intelligent Techniques for Pattern Analysis and Understanding

Handwritten samples

Preprocessing

Extract isolated Bangla

characters

Dual tree complex wavelet transformation GLCM

Standard deviation Mean

Feature vector generation

Dissimilarity measure

Classification

Result

FIGURE 1.5: Diagram of the proposed writer verification system.

DT-CWT and GLCM are applied separately and then as a combined feature extraction
method on the chosen dataset. The classifiers are then applied on the computed distances
to calculate the dissimilarity measures between the questioned and the reference handwrit-
ing.

1.5 Data Collection and PreProcessing

Here we designed a simple data collection form [58] consisting of all Bangla numerals and
alphabets. The total number of writer is 150 in the current work. Each writer has five sets
of the same copy. For the present work, data collection has been done by different writers in
[61]. Most of the writers of the database are right-handed. Out of 150 writers, now we have
to consider full five sets of data from 123 writers (used for current purpose work). Here we
show an example of our sample collection document form in Figure 1.6. The details about
the data collection and the preprocessing method on the data can be found in [9].
 Offline Writer Verification Based on Bangla Handwritten Characters 9

FIGURE 1.6: Sample data collection of isolated Bangla handwritten characters.

1.6 Feature Extraction Techniques

1.6.1 Feature extraction based on dual-tree complex wavelet
transformation
The proposed methodology is to use a modified DT-CWT [62–64] where multiscale
analysis and direction-oriented feature extractions are possible.
We use the decomposition level six for the wavelet transform. In this work, first we nor-
malize 128 × 128 dimensional image data and then the feature vectors have been computed
over it. After using a Gaussian filter, we get 128-dimension image features. Subsequently,
we get 64×64-dimensional feature vectors, which have been computed using the DT-CWT
algorithm.
Complex-valued wavelet is defined in Equation 1.1:

Ψc (t) = Ψr eal(t) + Ψi mg(t) (1.1)

Here Ψc (t) is the complex wavelet filter, Ψr eal(t) is the real part, and Ψi mg(t) is the
imaginary part of the wavelet. DT-CWT functions h(p, q) have the following equation:

h(p, q) = d(p, q)e(j(wp p+wq q)) (1.2)

where h(p, q) is the DT-CWT functions, d(p, q)is a Gaussian function centered at (0, 0) and
the center frequency is (wp , wq ) of the corresponding subband. The complex coefficients of
the k-th subband of the l-th level are as follows:

xlk = ykl + jzkl (1.3)

In Equation 1.4 we calculate the magnitude of each subband:

√
xlk = ((ykl )2 + (zkl )2 ) (1.4)
10 Hybrid Intelligent Techniques for Pattern Analysis and Understanding
Level n

L1
Level 2
2 H1
Level 1
L1
Tree A L1 2
2 H1
H1
2 L2
Isolated Bangla
characters L2
2 H2
L2 2 H2
2
H2
2
Tree B

FIGURE 1.7: The schematic diagram of n level dual tree complex wavelet transforms
(DT-CWT).

The magnitude is inconsiderate because d(p, q) is slowly varying. At each level, complex
coefficients angles are ±15◦ , ±45◦ , ±75◦ . These two properties are very useful for writer
verification.
Figure 1.7 shows a DT-CWT feature extraction diagram for the verification system.
DT-CWT can be use as a dual-tree formation [65]. The up sampling and down sampling
before filtering and after filtering are needed to support the shift invariance. Here we use
six levels of the dual-tree complex wavelet. We collected outputs of subband images into
complex wavelet coefficients. Getting more information is referred to in [66].

1.6.2 Feature extraction based on GLCM

The GLCM is a texture analysis of statistical method and different combination of
grayscale pixel value occur either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally of an image. It is a
common textual analysis of images, we get it from Haralick et al. [67].
In Equation 1.5 the co-occurrence matrix G of an image P with size M ×M is defined:
(
1, if P (a, b) = s and P (a + ∆a , b + ∆b ) = q
G(p, q) = ΣM M
( a = 1)Σ( b = 1) (1.5)
0, otherwise.

Here, in Equation 1.5, the offset (∆a, ∆b) parameterization makes the co-occurrence matrix
sensitive to rotation. The offset (∆a, ∆b) is specifying the distance between the pixel-of-
interest and its adjacent pixel. Choosing an offset vector, the rotation of the image is not
equal to 180◦ , will result in a different co-occurrence matrix for the same image. To achieve a
degree of rotational invariance (i.e., 0◦ , 45◦ , 90◦ , 135◦ ) using a set of offsets sweeping through
180 degrees at the same distance parameter ∆ by forming the co-occurrence matrix. In this
approach, GLCM is calculated with Energy, Contrast, Correlation, and Homogeneity in
four directions, considering the pairs like G[s, q] and G[s, p]. Following this approach, we
obtain 22 feature vectors using the modified GLCM feature extraction method over our
chosen dataset. Here, we use a maximum of 22 dimension features. Twenty-two dimensional
feature vectors have been computed using GLCM method in MATLABr , which is different
from the work of Haralick [67]. Then the first-order statistics of standard deviation and
mean are computed over the features.
 Offline Writer Verification Based on Bangla Handwritten Characters 11

1.6.3 Edge direction information

In handwriting verification, edge information is very important to enlarge the dimension
of writing features. Here we use first-order statistics which capture the information in 172
dimensions. First-order statistics of feature depend on the pixel value of the histogram. In
current work, two first-order statistics are calculated:

1 M
(M ean)µ = Σ Ei (1.6)
M (i=1)
s
1
(Standard deviation)S = ΣM |Ei − µ|2 (1.7)
(M − 1) (i=1)

Here, vector Ii is made up of M scalar observations. Therefore, finally 172 feature vectors
are obtained.

1.7 Dissimilarity Measure

DT-CWT generates 64X64 dimensional vectors of the first-order statistics. In the next
phase, we use the distance metric based on the dissimilarity representation in [68] using
KLdist (Kullback–Leibler divergence) method. To define the Kullback–Leibler divergence
distance, let A and B be two discrete probability distributions. Then KL of B from A [69]
is defined as follows:
A(i)
KLdist (A||B) = Σi A(i) log (1.8)
B(i)

In this method, Gaussian distribution is applied on each writer set to find out the KLdist
of same-writer sets. Different writer KLdist distances are calculated between one writer from
each set with different writers from all sets.

1.8 Classification Techniques

1.8.1 Multi-layer perceptrons networks
We can define an MLP by joining some neurons with functional neurons and gives
one numerical output. The first hidden layer of the neurons network consists of functional
neurons, whereas subsequent layers are created with numerical neurons. For example, a
single hidden layer functional output of MLP enumerates the following function:
Z
H(g) = Σni=0 ai T (bi + wi gdµ) (1.9)

where wi is the function of the weight space.

Figure 1.8 shows the architectural graph of MLP with two hidden layers and one output.
Here the network shown is of a fully connected type.
12 Hybrid Intelligent Techniques for Pattern Analysis and Understanding

x1

x2
Output
Input signal
signal x3

xn

FIGURE 1.8: Architecture of MLP.

Y(a) Output

w1
wm Linear weights
wj

hi1(a) hij(a) him(a) Radial basis

function

a1 ai an Input

FIGURE 1.9: Architecture of traditional radial basis function network.

1.8.2 Simple logistic

Logistic Model Trees (LMTs) are the combination of two complementary classification
schemes, namely, tree induction and linear logistic regression. It has been shown that LMTs
perform ruthlessly with other cutting edge classifiers [70]. The drawback of LMTs is the time
consuming method. The fixed number of iterations are repeatedly called in the LogitBoost
algorithm [71]. In this work, we use SimpleLogistic as a classifier.
In the LogitBoost approach [71] on all data, we use the number of iterations that gives
the lowest squared error on the test set from the average values over the cross-validations.
We will refer to this method as SimpleLogistic [70].

1.8.3 Radial basis function networks

Radial basis function (RBF) networks are the supervised learning algorithms. In theory
they could be recruited in any kind of model (linear or nonlinear) and any class of network
(single layer or multilayer). However, since Broomhead and Lowes’ work in 1988 [72], the
RBF networks have traditionally been incorporated with radial functions in a single layer
network as shown in Figure 1.9. The aim of RBF is to approximate the target function
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Canción.
La alma de alegría salte;
que en tener mi bien
presente
no hay descanso que me
falte,
ni dolor que me atormente.

No pienso en viejos cuidados;

que agravia nuestros
amores
tener presentes dolores
por los olvidos passados.
Alma, de tu dicha valte;
que con bien tan excelente
no hay descanso que te
falte,
ni dolor que te atormente.

En tanto que Diana dijo su

canción, llegó á la fuente una
pastora de extremadíssima
hermosura, que en aquella hora á
la casa de Felicia había venido, é
informada que la sabia estaba en
el jardín, por verla y hablarla, allí
había venido. Llegada donde
Felicia estaba, arrodillada delante
della, le pidió la mano para se la
besar, y después le dijo: Perdonar
se me debe, sabia señora, el
atrevimiento de entrar aquí sin tu
licencia, considerando el deseo
que tenía de verte y la necesidad
que tengo de tu sabiduría. Traigo
una fatiga en el corazón, cuyo
remedio está en tu mano; mas el
darte cuenta della lo guardo para
mejor ocasión, porque en
semejante tiempo y lugar es
descomedimiento tratar cosas de
tristeza. Estaba aún Melisea, que
este era el nombre de la pastora,
delante Felicia arrodillada, cuando
vido por un corredor de la huerta
venir un pastor hacia la fuente, y
en verle dijo: Esta es otra
pesadumbre, señora, tan molesta
y enojosa, que para librarme della
no menos he menester vuestros
favores. En esto el pastor, que
Narcisso se decía, llegó en
presencia de Felicia y de aquellos
caballeros y damas, y hecho el
debido acatamiento, comenzó á
dar quejas á Felicia de la pastora
Melisea, que presente tenía,
diciendo cómo por ella estaba
atormentado, sin haber de su
boca tan solamente una benigna
respuesta. Tanto que de muy lejos
hasta allí había venido en su
seguimiento, sin poder ablandar
su rebelde y desdeñoso corazón.
Hizo Felicia levantar á Melisea, y
atajando semejantes
contenciones: No es tiempo, dijo,
de escuchar largas historias; por
agora, tú, Melisea, da á Narcisso
la mano, y entrad entrambos en
aquella danza, que en lo demás á
su tiempo se pondrá remedio. No
quiso la pastora contradecir al
mandamiento de la sabia, sino
que en compañía de Narcisso se
puso á bailar juntamente con las
otras pastoras. A este tiempo la
venturosa Ismenia, que para
cantar estaba apercebida, dando
con el gesto señal del interno
contentamiento que tenía
después de tan largos cuidados,
cantó desta suerte:

Canción.
Tan alegres sentimientos
recibo, que no me espanto,
si cuesta dos mil tormentos
un placer que vale tanto.

Yo aguardé, y el bien tardó,

mas cuando el alma le
alcanza,
con su deleite pagó
mi aguardar y su tardanza.
Vengan las penas á cuentos,
no hago caso del llanto,
si me dan por mil tormentos
un placer que vale tanto.

Ismenia, al tiempo que cantaba, y

aun antes y después, cuasi nunca
partió los ojos de su querido
Montano. Pero él como estaba
algo afrentado del engaño en que
tanto tiempo, con tal agravio de
su esposa había vivido, no osaba
mirarla sino á hurto al dar de la
vuelta en la danza, estando ella
de manera que no podía mirarle,
y esto porque algunas veces, que
había probado mirarla en el gesto,
confundido con la vergüenza que
le tenía y vencido de la luz de
aquellos radiantes ojos, que con
afición de contino le miraban, le
era forzoso bajar los suyos al
suelo. Y como en ello vió que
tanto perdía, dejando de ver á la
que tenía por su descanso,
tomando esto por ocasión,
encaminando su cantar á la
querida Ismenia, desta manera
dijo:

Canción.
Vuelve agora en otra parte,
zagala, tus ojos bellos;
que si me miras con ellos
es excusado mirarte.

Con tus dos soles me tiras

rayos claros de tal suerte,
que, aunque vivo en solo
verte,
me matas cuando me miras.
Ojos, que son de tal arte,
guardados has de tenellos:
que si me miras con ellos,
es excusado mirarte.

Como nieve al sol caliente,

como á flechas el terrero,
 como niebla al viento fiero,
como cera al fuego ardiente:
Ansi se consume y parte
la alma en ver tus ojos
bellos:
pues si me miras con ellos,
es excusado mirarte.

¡Ved qué sabe hacer amor,

y la Fortuna qué ordena!
que un galardón de mi pena
acresciente mi dolor.
A darme vida son parte
essos ojos sólo en vellos:
mas si me miras con ellos,
es excusado mirarte.

Melisea, que harto contra su

voluntad con el desamado
Narciso hasta entonces había
bailado, quiso de tal pesadumbre
vengarse con una desamorada
canción, y á propósito de las
penas y muertes en que el pastor
decía cada día estar á causa
suya, burlándose de todo ello,
cantó ansí:

Canción.
Zagal, vuelve sobre ti;
que por excusar dolor
no quiero matar de amor,
ni que Amor me mate á mí.

Pues yo viviré sin verte,

 tú por amarme no mueras,
que ni quiero que me
quieras
ni determino quererte.

Que pues tú dices que ansi

se muere el triste amador,
ni quiero matar de amor
ni que Amor me mate á mi.

No mediana pena recibió

Narcisso con el crudo cantar de
su querida, pero esforzándose
con la esperanza que Felicia le
había dado de su bien, y
animándose con la constancia y
fortaleza del enamorado corazón,
le respondió añadiendo dos
coplas á una canción antigua que
decía:

Si os pesa de ser querida,

yo no puedo no os querer,
pesar habréis de tener,
mientras yo tuviere vida.

Sufrid que pueda quejarme,

pues que sufro un tal
tormento,
ó cumplid vuestro contento
con acabar de matarme.
Que según sois descreída,
y os ofende mi querer,
pesar habréis de tener,
mientras yo tuviere vida.
 Si pudiendo conosceros,
pudiera dejar de amaros,
quisiera, por no enojaros,
poder dejar de quereros.
Mas pues vos seréis querida,
mientras yo podré querer,
pesar habréis de tener,
mientras yo tuviere vida.

Tan puesta estaba Melisea en su

crueldad, que apenas había
Narcisso dicho las postreras
palabras de su canción, cuando
antes que otro cantasse, desta
manera replicó:

Canción.
Mal consejo me parescs,
enamorado zagal,
que á ti mismo quieres mal,
por amar quien te
aborresce.

Para ti debes guardar

esse corazón tan triste,
pues aquella á quien le
diste,
jamás le quiso tomar.
A quien no te favoresce,
no la sigas, piensa en ál,
y á ti no te quieras mal,
por querer quien te
aborresce.

No consintió Narcisso que la

canción de Melisea quedasse sin
respuesta, y ansí con gentil gracia
cantó, haciendo nuevas coplas á
un viejo cantar que dice:

Después que mal me

quesistes
nunca más me quise bien,
por no querer bien á quien
vos, señora, aborrescistes.

Si cuando os miré no os viera,

ó cuando os vi no os amara,
ni yo muriendo viviera,
ni viviendo os enojara.
Mas bien es que angustias
tristes
penosa vida me den,
que cualquier mal le está
bien
al que vos mal le quesistes.

Sepultado en vuestro olvido

tengo la muerte presente,
de mí mesmo aborrescido
y de vos y de la gente.
Siempre contento me vistes
con vuestro airado desdén,
aunque nunca tuve bien
después que mal me
quesistes.

Tanto contento dió á todos la

porfía de Narcisso y Melisea, que
aumentara mucho en el regocijo
de la boda si no quedara
templado con el pesar que
tuvieron de la crueldad que ella
mostraba y con la lástima que les
causó la pena que él padescía.
Después que Narcisso dió fin á su
cantar, todos volvieron los ojos á
Melisea, esperando si replicaría.
Pero calló, no porque le faltassen
canciones crueles y ásperas con
que lastimar el miserable
enamorado, ni porque dejasse de
tener voluntad para decirlas; más,
según creo, por no ser enojosa á
toda aquella compañía. Selvagia
y Belisa fueron rogadas que
cantassen, pero excusáronse,
diciendo que no estaban para
ello. Bueno sería, dijo Diana, que
saliéssedes de la fiesta sin pagar
el escote. Esso, dijo Felixmena,
no se debe consentir, por lo que
nos importa escuchar tan
delicadas voces. No queremos,
dijeron ellas, dejar de serviros en
esta solemnidad con lo que
supiéremos hacer, que será harto
poco; pero perdonadnos el cantar,
que en lo demás haremos lo
possible. Por mi parte, dijo
Alcida, no permitiré que dejéis de
cantar ó que otros por vosotras lo
hagan. ¿Quién mejor, dijeron
ellas, que Sylvano y Arsileo,
nuestros maridos? Bien dicen las
pastoras, respondió Marcelio, y
aun sería mejor que ambos
cantassen una sola canción, el
uno cantando y el otro
respondiendo, porque á ellos les
será menos trabajoso y á
nosotros muy agradable.
Mostraron todos que holgarían
mucho de semejante manera de
canción, por saber que en ella se
mostraba la viveza de los
ingenios en preguntar y
responder. Y ansí Sylvano y
Arsileo, haciendo señal de ser
contentos, volviendo á proseguir
la danza, cantaron desta suerte:

Canción.
Sylvano. Pastor, mal te está
el callar:
canta y dinos tu
alegría.

Arsileo. Mi placer poco sería

si se pudiesse
contar.

Sylvano. Aunque tu ventura

es tanta,
dinos de ella alguna
parte.

Arsileo. En empresas de tal

arte
comenzar es lo que
espanta.

Sylvano. Acaba ya de contar

la causa de tu
alegría.

Arsileo. ¿De que modo

acabaría
quien no basta á
comenzar?

Sylvano. No es razón que se

consienta
tu deleite estar
callado.

Arsileo. La alma, que sola ha

penado,
ella sola el gozo
sienta.

Sylvano. Si no se viene á
tratar
no se goza una
alegría.

Arsileo. Si ella es tal como la

mía
no se dejará contar.

Sylvano. ¿Cómo en esse

corazón
cabe un gozo tan
crescido?

Arsileo. Téngole donde he

tenido
mi tan sobrada
passión.

Sylvano. Donde hay bien no

 puede estar
escondido todavía.

Arsileo. Cuando es mayor la

alegría
menos se deja
contar.

Sylvano. Ya yo he visto que tu

canto
tu alegría publicaba.

Arsileo. Decía que alegre

estaba,
pero no cómo ni
cuánto.

Sylvano. Ella se hace

publicar,
cuando es mucha
una alegría.

Arsileo. Antes muy poca

sería
si se pudiesse
contar.

Otra copla querían decir los

pastores en esta canción, cuando
una compañía de Nymphas, por
orden de Felicia, llegó á la fuente,
y cada cual con su instrumento
tañendo movían un extraño y
deleitoso estruendo. Una tañía su
laúd, otra un harpa, otra con una
flauta hacía maravilloso
contrapunto, otra con la delicada
pluma las cuerdas de la cítara
hacía retiñir, otras las de la lira
con las resinosas cerdas hacía
resonar, otras con los albogues y
chapas hacían en el aire
delicadas mudanzas, levantando
allí tan alegre música que dejó los
que presentes estaban atónitos y
maravillados. Iban estas
Nymphas vestidas á maravilla,
cada cual de su color, las
madejas de los dorados cabellos
encomendadas al viento, sobre
sus cabezas puestas hermosas
coronas de rosas y flores atadas y
envueltas con hilo de oro y plata.
Los pastores, en ver este
hermosíssimo coro, dejando la
danza comenzada, se sentaron,
atentos á la admirable melodía y
concierto de los varios y suaves
instrumentos. Los cuales algunas
veces de dulces y delicadas
voces acompañados causaban
extraño deleite. Salieron luego de
través seis Nymphas vestidas de
raso carmesí, guarnecido de
follajes de oro y plata, puestos
sus cabellos en torno de la
cabeza, cogidos con unas redes
anchas de hilo de oro de Arabia,
llevando ricos prendedores de
rubines y esmeraldas, de los
cuales sobre sus frentes caían
unos diamantes de
extremadíssimo valor. Calzaban
colorados borzeguines,
subtilmente sobredorados, con
sus arcos en las manos, colgando
de sus hombros las aljabas.
Desta manera hicieron una danza
al son que los instrumentos
hacían, con tan gentil orden que
era cosa de espantar. Estando
ellas en esto, salió un
hermosíssimo ciervo blanco,
variado con unas manchas
negras puestas á cierto espacio,
haciendo una graciosa pintura.
Los cuernos parescían de oro,
muy altos y partidos en muchos
ramos. En fin, era tal como Felicia
le supo fingir para darles regocijo.
A la hora, visto el ciervo, las
Nymphas le tomaron en medio, y
danzando continuamente, sin
perder el son de los instrumentos,
con gran concierto comenzaron á
tirarle, y él con el mesmo orden,
después de salidas las flechas de
los arcos, á una y otra parte
moviéndose, con muy diestros y
graciosos saltos se apartaba.
Pero después que buen rato
passaron en este juego, el ciervo
dió á huir por aquellos corredores.
Las Nymphas yendo tras él, y
siguiéndole hasta salir con él de
la huerta, movieron un regocijado
alarido, al cual ayudaron las otras
Nymphas y pastoras con sus
voces, tomando desta danza un
singular contentamiento. Y en
esto las Nymphas dieron fin á su
música. La sabia Felicia, porque
en aquellos placeres no faltasse
lición provechosa para el orden
de la vida, probando si habían
entendido lo que aquella danza
había querido significar, dijo
Diana: Graciosa pastora,
¿sabrásme decir lo que por
aquella caza del hermoso ciervo
se ha de entender? No soy tan
sabia, respondió ella, que sepa
atinar tu subtilidades ni declarar
tus enigmas. Pues yo quiero, dijo
Felicia, publicarte lo que debajo
de aquella invención se contiene.
El ciervo es el humano corazón,
hermoso con los delicados
pensamientos y rico con el
sossegado contentamiento.
Ofréscese á las humanas
inclinaciones, que le tiran
mortales saetas; pero con la
discreción, apartándose á
diversas partes y entendiendo en
honestos ejercicios, ha de
procurar de defenderse de tan
dañosos tiros. Y cuando dellos es
muy perseguido ha de huir á más
andar y podrá desta manera
salvarse; aunque las humanas
inclinaciones, que tales flechas le
tiraban, irán tras él y nunca
dejarán de acompañarle hasta
salir de la huerta desta vida.
¿Cómo había yo, dijo Diana, de
entender tan dificultoso y moral
enigma si las preguntas en que
las pastoras nos ejercitamos,
aunque fuessen muy llanas y
fáciles, nunca las supe adevinar?
No te amengues tanto, dijo
Selvagia, que lo contrario he visto
en ti, pues ninguna vi qne te
fuesse dificultosa. A tiempo
estamos, dijo Felicia, que lo
podremos probar, y no será de
menos deleite esta fiesta que las
otras. Diga cada cual de vosotros
una pregunta, que yo sé que
Diana las sabrá todas declarar. A
todos les paresció muy bien, sino
á Diana, que no estaba tan
confiada de sí que se atreviesse á
cosa de tanta dificultad; pero por
obedescer á Felicia y complacer á
Syreno, que mostró haber de
tomar dello placer, fué contenta
de emprender el cargo que se le
había impuesto. Sylvano, que en
decir preguntas tenía mucha
destreza, fué el que hizo la
primera, diciendo: Bien sé,
pastora, que las cosas
escondidas tu viveza las
descubre, y las cosas
encumbradas tu habilidad las
alcanza; pero no dejaré de
preguntarte, porque tu respuesta
ha de manifestar tu ingenio
delicado. Por esso dime qué
quiere decir esto:

Pregunta.
 Junto á un pastor estaba una
doncella,
tan flaca como un palo al sol
secado,
su cuerpo de ojos muchos
rodeado,
con lengua que jamás pudo
movella.
A lo alto y bajo el viento vi
traella,
mas de una parte nunca se
ha mudado,
vino á besarla el triste
enamorado
y ella movió tristíssima
querella.
Cuanto más le atapó el pastor
la boca,
más voces da porque la
gente acuda,
y abriendo está sus ojos y
cerrando.
Ved qué costó forzar zagala
muda,
que al punto que el pastor la
besa ó toca,
él queda enmudecido y ella
hablando.

Esta pregunta, dijo Diana, aunque

es buena, no me dará mucho
trabajo, porque á ti mesmo te la oí
decir un día en la fuente de los
alisos, y no sabiendo ninguna de
las pastoras que allí estábamos
adevinar lo que ella quería decir,
nos la declaraste diciendo que la
doncella era la zampoña ó flauta
tañida por un pastor. Y aplicaste
todas las partes de la pregunta á
los efectos que en tal música
comúnmente acontescen.
Riéronse todos de la poca
memoria de Sylvano y de la
mucha de Diana; pero Sylvano,
por desculparse y vengarse del
corrimiento, sonriéndose dijo: No
os maravilléis de mi desacuerdo,
pues este olvido no paresce tan
mal como el de Diana ni es tan
dañoso como el de Syreno.
Vengado estás, dijo Syreno, pero
más lo estuvieras si nuestros
olvidos no hubiessen parado en
tan perfecto amor y en tan
venturoso estado. No haya más,
dijo Selvagia, que todo está bien
hecho. Y tú, Diana, respóndeme á
lo que quiero preguntar, que yo
quiero probar á ver si hablaré más
escuro lenguaje que Sylvano. La
pregunta que quiero hacerte dice:

Pregunta.
Vide un soto levantado
sobre los aires un día,
el cual, con sangre regado,
con gran ansia cultivado
muchas hierbas producía.
De allí un manojo arrancando,
y sólo con él tocando
una sabia y cuerda gente,
 la dejé cabe una puente
sin dolores lamentando.

Vuelta á la hora Diana, á su

esposo dijo: ¿No te acuerdas,
Syreno, haber oído esta pregunta
la noche que estuvimos en casa
de Iranio mi tío? ¿no tienes
memoria cómo la dijo allí
Maroncio, hijo de Fernaso? Bien
me acuerdo que la dijo, respondio
Syreno, pero no de lo que
significaba. Pues yo, dijo Diana,
tengo dello memoria: decía que el
soto es la cola del caballo, de
donde se sacan las cerdas, con
que las cuerdas del rabel tocadas
dan voces, aunque ningunos
dolores padescen. Selvagia dijo
que era ansí y que el mesmo
Maroncio, autor de la pregunta, se
la había dado como muy
señalada aunque había de
mejores. Muchas hay más
delicadas, dijo Belisa, y una
dellas es la que yo diré agora. Por
esso apercíbete, Diana, que desta
vez no escapas de vencida. Ella
dice deste modo:

Pregunta.
¿Cuál es el ave ligera
que está siempre en un
lugar,
y anda siempre caminando,
 penetra y entra do quiera,
de un vuelo passa la mar,
las nubes sobrepujando?
Ansi vella no podemos,
y quien la está
descubriendo,
sabio queda en sola un
hora;
mas tal vez la conoscemos,
las paredes solas viendo
de la casa donde mora.

Más desdichada, dijo Diana, ha

sido tu pregunta que las
passadas, Belisa, pues no
declarara ninguna dellas si no las
hubiera otras veces oído, y la que
dijiste, en ser por mí escuchada
luego fué entendida. Hácelo, creo
yo, ser ella tan clara, que á
cualquier ingenio se manifestará.
Porque harto es evidente que por
el ave, que tú dices, se entiende
el pensamiento, que vuela con
tanta ligereza y no es visto de
nadie, sino conoscido y
conjeturado por las señales del
gesto y cuerpo donde habita. Yo
me doy por vencida, dijo Belisa, y
no tengo más que decir sino que
me rindo á tu discreción y me
someto á tu voluntad. Yo te
vengaré, dijo Ismenia, que sé un
enigma que á los más avisados
pastores ha puesto en trabajo; yo
quiero decirle, y verás cómo haré
que no sea Diana tan venturosa