Potencial fisiológico de sementes de mutambo (Guazuma ulmifolia Lam.) em diferentes procedências

The work had as objective to evaluate the provenances of seeds to verify the efficiency of different tests of vigor for identification of the physiological potential in four lots of seeds of mutamba (Guazuma ulmifolia Lam.). The study it was developed in the Laboratory of Analysis of Seeds and in the Experimental Fishery of Ornamental and Forest Plants - UNESP, Jaboticabal, SP. Four lots of seeds proceeding from three São Paulo localities had been used: lots I and II, collected in the city of Jaboticabal in 2000 and 2001, respectively, lot III: collected in Saint Rita do Passo Quatro and it crowds IV: collected in Luiz Antonio, both in 2001. The seeds used in all the tests had been escarificadas with sulfuric acid during 50 minutes, and washed in current water during 15 minutes. They had been evaluated: seed moisture, test of germination, test of first counting, index of germination speed, emergency in fishery, index of emergency speed. The seeds moisture of the seeds in the different lots had presented small variations (9,2 10.0%). Statistical differences for the germination percentage, emergency in fishery and index of speed of emergency in the different studied lots had not been verified. The tests of first counting and index of germination speed had revealed adequate for evaluation of the physiological potential of the lots. The seeds of lot III proceeding from the city of Santa Rita do Passo Quatro, had presented superior physiological potential to the too much studied lots.

Automatic estimation of crowd density using texture

This paper considers the role of automatic estimation of crowd density and its importance for the automatic monitoring of areas where crowds are expected to be present. A new technique is proposed which is able to estimate densities ranging from very low to very high concentration of people, which is a difficult problem because in a crowd only parts of people's body appear. The new technique is based on the differences of texture patterns of the images of crowds. Images of low density crowds tend to present coarse textures, while images of dense crowds tend to present fine textures. The image pixels are classified in different texture classes and statistics of such classes are used to estimate the number of people. The texture classification and the estimation of people density are carried out by means of self organising neural networks. Results obtained respectively to the estimation of the number of people in a specific area of Liverpool Street Railway Station in London (UK) are presented. (C) 1998 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estimation of crowd density using image processing

Human beings perceive images through their properties, like colour, shape, size, and texture. Texture is a fertile source of information about the physical environment. Images of low density crowds tend to present coarse textures, while images of dense crowds tend to present fine textures. This paper describes a new technique for automatic estimation of crowd density, which is a part of the problem of automatic crowd monitoring, using texture information based on grey-level transition probabilities on digitised images. Crowd density feature vectors are extracted from such images and used by a self organising neural network which is responsible for the crowd density estimation. Results obtained respectively to the estimation of the number of people in a specific area of Liverpool Street Railway Station in London (UK) are presented.

Estimating crowd density with Minkowski fractal dimension

The estimation of the number of people in an area under surveillance is very important for the problem of crowd monitoring. When an area reaches an occupation level greater than the projected one, people's safety can be in danger. This paper describes a new technique for crowd density estimation based on Minkowski fractal dimension. Fractal dimension has been widely used to characterize data texture in a large number of physical and biological sciences. The results of our experiments show that fractal dimension can also be used to characterize levels of people congestion in images of crowds. The proposed technique is compared with a statistical and a spectral technique, in a test study of nearly 300 images of a specific area of the Liverpool Street Railway Station, London, UK. Results obtained in this test study are presented.

A precautionary tale when describing species in a world of invaders: Morphology, coloration and genetics demonstrate that Lysmata rauli is not a new species endemic to Brazil but a junior synonym of the Indo-Pacific L. vittata

The objective of this study was to investigate morphological variation in traits of systematic relevance and the phylogenetic position, ecology, and reproductive biology of the shrimp Lysmata rauli Laubenheimer and Rhyne, 2010 (Caridea: Hippolytidae), described based only on a single specimen collected in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. We analyzed a total of 89 specimens from Camamu Bay, Bahia (n = 88) and from S3o Vicente estuary, São Paulo (n = 1). Considerable morphological variation was detected in the rostral spine series, number of segments on the carpus and merus of pereiopod 2, number of spiniform setae on the ventrolateral margin of merus and on the ventral margin of propodus of pereiopods 3-5. Importantly, L rauli can be distinguished neither using morphology, nor coloration from the Indo-Pacific L. vittata (Stimpson, 1860). Furthermore, molecular phylogenetic analyses (using the 16S mt DNA fragment) did not reveal any considerable genetic dissimilarities between L rauli and L vittata. Thus, our results clearly indicate that L rauli is not a new species but a junior synonym of L vittata. The high density observed within the structures of oyster farming indicates that the invasive L vittata lives in crowds in Brazil. The studied population was composed of males, hermaphrodites, and transitional individuals (having characteristics of males and hermaphrodites). The above information suggests that L rauli is a protandric simultaneous hermaphrodite, as it has been observed in all species of Lysmata that have been investigated. Lysmata vittata has invaded the southwestern Atlantic and is present in Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and S3o Paulo, Brazil. © The Crustacean Society, 2013. Published by Brill NV, Leiden.

Cinema e Walter Benjamin: para uma vivência da descontinuidade

Este artigo é uma iniciativa de destacar alguns elementos a respeito das reflexões de Walter Benjamin sobre o cinema, uma arte que, segundo o próprio autor, responde aos anseios perceptivos do homem moderno, àquele para o qual foi negada qualquer experiência. O cinema, “a obra de arte na era de sua reprodutibilidade técnica”, por excelência, é, para o autor, o marco de uma nova percepção, de uma nova relação entre público e obra de arte: a percepção coletiva. O que a multidão busca não é a contemplação ou o recolhimento diante da obra de arte, mas a sua distração. Fato que o cinema, ao reproduzir em sua forma o conceito benjaminiano de “experiência do choque”, por meio das sucessivas exposições de seus fragmentos, interrompendo constantemente a associação de idéias dos espectadores, insiste em colocar em pauta, (re)afirmando o caráter de diversão da arte moderna. Entretanto, para o autor, o cinema dialeticamente responde à diversão como o instrumento adequado para uma pedagogia das multidões — por meio de uma arte emancipada, as massas também se emancipariam.