Paris, 2 November 2009


EFITA newsletter / 435 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


To read this newsletter on the efita.net web site...
See: http://www.efita.net?d=6712


Agritechnica News (1)
10 – 14 NOVEMBER – HANNOVER

> ISOBUS for improved farm efficiency
International data communication standard presented at Agritechnica. More.

> Energy crop production at Agritechnica 2009. More.

> Workshop LIVE – Quality service as the basis for success
Attracting talent in agri-mechanics. More.


Agritechnica News (2): Argentina’s agri-business - new perspectives and sustainable strategies for a global marketplace
10 November 2009 - HANNOVER
This conference includes leading experts who will explore aspects of Argentina’s agri-business and its new perspectives within the global market.
The following issues will be addressed:
- Agricultural technology made-in-Argentina
- Export-driven technologies
- Argentine efficiency and sustainability models
- Certified Agriculture
- No-till farming
Presentations are given in English. Programme details here.
Contact: Malene CONLONG
E-mail: M.Conlong(a)dlg.org


Agritechnica News (3)
10 November 2009 - HANNOVER
> Agri-Markets 2010
Let’s talk about agriculture’s future. More.

> Eastern European Conference at Agritechnica
Tapping on the vast potential of agriculture in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. More
 
> Chinese-European Farm Mechanisation Summit premieres at Agritechnica.
Increasing efficient out put through new technologies.  More

>IAMO symposium at Agritechnica 2009
"Crisis as an opportunity?" More.

> Forums Galore!
Highlights of translated seminars and special shows at Agritechnica. More.

> Young farmers gather at Agritechnica
Two-day programme to focus on careers, cross-border exchanges. More.

> Engineering - agriculture’s future
LAND.Technik - AgEng 2009, which will take place in Hanover on 6 and 7 November, 2009. More.

> “Argentina’s agri-business
New perspectives and sustainable strategies for a global marketplace”  More.
Contact: Malene CONLONG
E-mail: M.Conlong(a)dlg.org


30th Annual Conference of the German Association for Informatics in Agriculture, Forestry, and the Food Sector (GIL e.V.)
24 - 25 February 2010 - STUTTGART
The Theme is " Precision Agriculture reloaded - Information-based agriculture".
The visit of parallel events of the Annual Convention of the German Society for Horticultural Sciences (DGG e.V.) is possible without additional costs.
See: http://www.gil.de
Contact: M. MORGENSTERN
E-mail: marlies.morgenstern(a)landw.uni-halle.de


Automation Using Sensor Based Data in Managing Dairy Cows
2 – 5 March 2010 – TORONTO
An International Conference about using dairy farm automation and sensor based data to improve productivity, health and welfare of dairy cows, to increase labour efficiency on the dairy farm, by applying automated individual cow care.
See: http://www.precisiondairy2010.com


Computers learn to spot unspoken meaning in human conversations
Researchers at the University of Surrey have created an automatic system to spot non-verbal social signals in natural conversation. This allows computers to better understand meaning in speech, which enables more intuitive computer interfaces.  Social cues such as agreement, understanding, thinking and questioning are detected in continuous video.  The findings were presented at the IEEE International Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction on 4 October in Kyoto, Japan.

The research is being led by Tim Sheerman-Chase, Dr Eng-Jon Ong and Dr Richard Bowden within the Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing at the University.  The project was originated by an EPSRC study into lip reading which identified the need to provide more than the literal words for useful understanding.  Humans unconsciously use body gestures, emotions and gaze direction to understand the meaning of spoken language.  The automatic recognition of communication signals provides a valuable tool for computer interfaces and the study of social situations.

Human conversation was recorded with minimum intervention of the experimenter.  Interesting clips from these conversations were rated by 21 annotators in a web browser.  This provided clear examples of 'thinking' and 'not thinking', along with positive and negative examples of the other non-verbal signals.  A computer learned which parts of the face could be used to identify each social signal in video.

Tim Sheerman-Chase comments: "This is a new direction in emotion recognition.  Most previous work focused on actors or artificial social situations.  The ability for computers to understand meaning in natural conversation is key to being able to use our innate communication skills to use computers."

"Although the accuracy of the system is far from perfect, it is comparable to human performance for some types of social signals.  The complexity of everyday conversations makes even humans disagree on what is happening."

Recognition of communication signals can be applied to a range of applications including making computer game characters interact in more natural fashion, determining user experiences in real or virtual environments and safety critical applications.  Future work will involve studying other social situations and cultural differences.
 
Contact: Peter LA
E-mail: p.la(a)surrey.ac.uk


God is great!
In a small town, a person decided to open up a brothel, which was right opposite to a church. The church & its congregation started a campaign to block the brothel from opening with petitions and prayed daily against his business.

Work progressed. However, when it was almost complete and was about to open a few days later, a strong lightning struck the brothel and it was burnt to the ground.

The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, till the brothel owner sued the church authorities on the grounds that the church through its congregation & prayers was ultimately responsible for the destruction of his brothel, either through direct or indirect actions or means.

In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons for the act of God. As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented:

'I don't know how I'm going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, we have a brothel owner who firmly believes in the power of prayer and an entire church that doesn't.'

Amen!

Contact: I. KITRON
E-mail: kitron1(a)terra.com.br


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