City of Denison, June 30, 2002

City Audit Report

[Sicile. Paysages]

Référence bibliographique : Weigert, 664

Resistência de amendoim - bravo aos herbicidas inibidores da enzima ALS

Uma das práticas agrícolas mais eficientes para o controle de plantas daninhas na agricultura é o uso de herbicidas seletivos. Todavia, a aplicação de um mesmo herbicida, ou de herbicidas com o mesmo mecanismo de ação, durante anos consecutivos, na mesma área, pode resultar na seleção de biótipos de plantas daninhas resistentes a esses herbicidas. Com o objetivo de confirmar a resistência de um biótipo (E-298) da planta daninha amendoim-bravo (Euphorbia heterophylla) aos herbicidas inibidores da enzima ALS, encontrado em área de cultivo de soja, no município de Cafelândia, PR, foi conduzido um experimento em área pertencente à Embrapa Soja, Londrina, PR. As plantas provenientes da população com suspeita de resistência foram tratadas com diversos herbicidas e doses, e comparadas com plantas de uma população suscetível de amendoim-bravo. Os tratamentos foram estabelecidos considerando as doses recomendadas dos herbicidas, metade delas e, duas, quatro e oito vezes superiores a recomendada. Os produtos e as doses aplicadas foram cloransulan nas doses 0,0; 0,015; 0,03;0,06; 0,12; 0,24 kg i.a./ha, mais o espalhante adesivo Agral 0,2% v/v, imazetaphapyr nas doses 0,0; 0,05; 0,1; 0,2; 0,4 e 0,8 kg i.a./ha, imazaquin nas doses 0,0; 0,075; 0,15; 0,3; 0,6; 1,2 kg i.a./ha, mais o espalhante adesivo Assist 0,3% v/v, sulfentrazone nas doses 0,0; 0,3; 0,6; 1,2; 2,4; 4,8 kg i.a./ha, mais o espalhante adesivo Assist 0,3% v/v, e lactofen nas doses 0,0; 0,082; 0,165; 0,33; 0,664; 1,329 kg i.a./ha. O biótipo resistente apresentou diferentes níveis de resistência cruzada entre os herbicidas cloransulan, imazethapyr e o imazaquin, e as relações médias de GR50 obtidas foram > 6,85; 11,90 e > 7,18, respectivamente. As curvas de dose-resposta do biótipo resistente apresentaram valores inferiores ao biótipo suscetível, em todas as doses estudadas para os herbicidas cloransulan, imazethapyr e imazaquin. Para os herbicidas sulfentrazone e lactofen, que apresentam mecanismo de ação diferente da inibição da enzima ALS, ocorreu alto índice de controle de ambos os biótipos de amendoim-bravo avaliados, principalmente, nas maiores doses, provando a não existência de resistência múltipla nesse biótipo de amendoim-bravo estudado.

Myanmar Sugar SMEs: History, Technology, Location and Government Policy

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in sugar processing in Myanmar appeared in the last decade of the socialist era. An acute sugar deficit, restricted trade in white sugar, and high demand from the conventional dairy business led to the growth of sugar SMEs by appropriate blending of semi-finished products (syrup) in the fields, which were then processed in vacuum pans and centrifugals to obtain white sugar. This became a tradable commodity and sugar SMEs grew in clusters in big cities. They are family-owned businesses. However, they lack the bagasse-based power generation. In recent years, large modern sugar factories operated by private and military companies have emerged as key players. The current shortage of fuel feedstock and competition for raw materials have become driving forces that shift sugar SMEs from market-oriented to raw material-oriented locations. Internal competition among key players made sugar price highly volatile, too. Being placed on a level playing field, the whole industry should be upgraded in terms of price and quality to become export-oriented.

Using generative models for handwritten digit recognition

We describe a method of recognizing handwritten digits by fitting generative models that are built from deformable B-splines with Gaussian ``ink generators'' spaced along the length of the spline. The splines are adjusted using a novel elastic matching procedure based on the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm that maximizes the likelihood of the model generating the data. This approach has many advantages. (1) After identifying the model most likely to have generated the data, the system not only produces a classification of the digit but also a rich description of the instantiation parameters which can yield information such as the writing style. (2) During the process of explaining the image, generative models can perform recognition driven segmentation. (3) The method involves a relatively small number of parameters and hence training is relatively easy and fast. (4) Unlike many other recognition schemes it does not rely on some form of pre-normalization of input images, but can handle arbitrary scalings, translations and a limited degree of image rotation. We have demonstrated our method of fitting models to images does not get trapped in poor local minima. The main disadvantage of the method is it requires much more computation than more standard OCR techniques.

Várható világpolitikai tendenciák 2012-ben = Global political trends 2012

A 2012-es év várhatóan nem hoz radikális változást a világgazdaságban és a világpolitikában, meglepetésekkel azonban számolni kell. A gazdasági válság hatását nemcsak Európában, hanem azon kívül is érzékeljük, a válság rányomja bélyegét az érintett államok belpolitikájára és nemzetközi kapcsolataira. Az Egyesült Államok meghatározó tényező marad 2012-ben, még akkor is, ha ezt néhányan vitatják. A BRIC államok kimagasló mutatóik ellenére sem vonhatják ki magukat a válság hatása alól. 2012-ben az Egyesült Államok új védelmi stratégiát adott ki, amelyben egyértelműen kimutathatók a háborúk következményei. Az Al Kaida terrorszervezet ugyan jelentősen meggyengült, de a dzsihádizmussal továbbra is számolni kell, főként a válságkörzetekben. ______________ The year 2012 will probably not bring radical changes in the global economy and world policy. However, one should count on surprises. The results of the economic crisis are felt not only in Europe but outside Europe as well and it will have an effect on the domestic politics and on the international connections of the respective countries. The United States will remain a determinant factor in 2012 as well, although even if some dispute this observation. The BRIC states, in spite of theirs outstanding economic achievements, cannot avoid the detrimental effects of the crisis. As for security policy, the USA delivered a new defence strategy in 2012 that summarises the consequences of the wars. Although Al-Qaida lost its strength remarkably, one has to count on jihadism mainly in crisis areas.