A unified approach for estimating population size in capture-recapture studies with arbitrary removals

A unified approach is suggested to estimate the population size for a closed population in discrete time. Individuals can be removed after capture at any time during the experiment. The usual recapture and removal experimentsare shown to be particular cases of the general formulation. The capture probability is assumed to have a logistic function that depends on individual covariates and can be time dependent. The unified approach involves a two-step procedure. A conditional likelihood function is used to estimate the covariates coefficients and a Horvitz-Thompson type estimator to estimate the population size. The asymptotic and small-sample properties of the resulting estimators are in vestigated. A real example is given.     

Benefits of Conservation Agriculture on Soil and Water Conservation and Its Progress in China

Conservation agriculture has been practised for three decades and has been spread widely. There are many nomenclatures surrounding conservation agriculture and differ to each other lightly. Conservation agriculture (CA) is a system approach to soil and water conservation, high crop productivity and profitability, in one word, it is a system approach to sustainable agriculture. Yet, because conservation agriculture is a knowledge-intensive and a complex system to learn and implement,and also because of traditions of intensive cultivation, adoption rates have been low, since to date, only about seven percent of the world's arable and permanent cropland area is farmed under conservation agriculture. The practice and wider extention of conservation agriculture thus requires a deeper understanding of its ecological underpinnings in order to manage its various elements for sustainable intensification, where the aim is to conserve soil and water and improve sustainability over the long term. This paper described terms related to conservation agriculture, presented the effects of conservation agriculture on soil and water conservation, crop productivity, progress and adoption of CA worldwide, emphasized obstacles and possible ways to increase CA adoption to accelerate sustainable development of China agriculture.     

Ecological effects of climate fluctuations

Climate influences a variety of ecological processes. These effects operate through local weather parameters such as temperature, wind, rain, snow, and ocean currents, as well as interactions among these. In the temperate zone, local variations in weather are often coupled over large geographic areas through the transient behavior of atmospheric planetary-scale waves. These variations drive temporally and spatially averaged exchanges of heat, momentum, and water vapor that ultimately determine growth, recruitment, and migration patterns. Recently, there have been several studies of the impact of large-scale climatic forcing on ecological systems. We review how two of the best-known climate phenomena-the North Atlantic Oscillation and the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation-affect ecological patterns and processes in both marine and terrestrial systems.     

贵州罗甸水稻霜霉病的发生特点与防治建议

水稻霜霉病又名黄化萎缩病,1890年首次在澳大利亚发现,其后在日本、意大利、美国、印度等国家以及我国的东北、台湾、江苏、广东、山东等省、市相继报道此病发生。2002年以来,在贵州省罗甸县的不同乡镇陆续发现该病,其发生特点是来势猛,传播快,发病面积大,危害重,对当地水稻生产造成极大损失。罗甸县位于贵州省南部,地形结构类似小盆地,终年气候温和,雨量充沛,年平均气温19．6℃,年平均降雨量1100—1300mm,全年无霜期300多天,属于南亚热带季风湿润气候,素有“天然温室”的美称,是西南地区重要的早熟蔬菜基地,也是贵州省重要的水稻种植区之一,种植面积7200hm^2。     

新形势下加快推进广西农垦农业产业化的思考

当前,广西农垦已进入工业化、城镇化发展中同步推进农业现代化的关键阶段,而做大做强做优龙头企业,加快推进农业产业化经营,促进现代农业和农业现代化发展,是“充分发挥广西农垦龙头带动作用”的重要途径,文章阐述了广西农垦农业产业化经营的成效、存在的问题,提出了基本思路及对策建议,以期为加快推进垦区农业产业化发展提供参考.     

基于全卷积网络的哺乳母猪图像分割

猪舍场景下,光照变化、母猪体表颜色不均及与环境颜色对比度不大、母猪与仔猪的粘连等,均给目标分割带来很大的困难。该文提出了基于全卷积网络(FCN,fully convolutional networks)的哺乳母猪图像分割算法。以VGG16为基础网络,采用融合深层抽象特征与浅层细节特征并将融合的特征图上采样8倍的跳跃式结构,设计哺乳母猪分割的FCN。利用Caffe深度学习框架,以7栏伴有不同日龄仔猪的3811幅哺乳母猪训练样本进行母猪分割FCN训练,在另外21栏的523幅哺乳母猪测试集上的分割结果表明:该算法可有效避免光线变化、母猪颜色不均、小猪遮挡与粘连等影响,实现完整的哺乳母猪区域分割;分割的平均准确率达到99.28%,平均区域重合度达到95.16%,平均速度达到0.22 s/幅。与深度卷积网络的SDS(simultaneous detection and segmentation)及传统的基于图论的图像分割、基于水平集的图像分割方法做了对比试验,该文分割方法平均区域重合度分别比这3种方法高出9.99、31.96和26.44个百分点,有较好的泛化性和鲁棒性,实现了猪舍场景下哺乳母猪准确、快速分割,可为猪只图像分割提供了技术参考。     

Drivers,challenges and opportunities of forage technology adoption by smallholder cattle households in Cambodia

Forage technology has been successfully introduced into smallholder cattle systems in Cambodia as an alternative feed source to the traditional rice straw and native pastures, improving animal nutrition and reducing labour requirements of feeding cattle. Previous research has highlighted the positive impacts of forage technology including improved growth rates of cattle and household time savings. However, further research is required to understand the drivers, challenges and opportunities of forage technology for smallholder cattle households in Cambodia to facilitate widespread adoption and identify areas for further improvement. A survey of forage-growing households (n = 40) in July–September 2016 examined forage technology adoption experiences, including reasons for forage establishment, use of inputs and labour requirements of forage plot maintenance and use of forages (feeding, fattening, sale of grass or seedlings and silage). Time savings was reported as the main driver of forage adoption with household members spending approximately 1 h per day maintaining forages and feeding it to cattle. Water availability was reported as the main challenge to this activity. A small number of households also reported lack of labour, lack of fencing, competition from natural grasses, cost of irrigation and lack of experience as challenges to forage growing. Cattle fattening and sale of cut forage grass and seedlings was not found to be a widespread activity by interviewed households, with 25 and 10% of households reporting use of forages for these activities, respectively. Currently, opportunities exist for these households to better utilise forages through expansion of forage plots and cattle activities, although assistance is required to support these households in addressing current constraints, particularly availability of water, if the sustainability of this feed technology for smallholder cattle household is to be established in Cambodia.     

青杄功能性状及其在各器官间分配格局的时空变化

为研究青杄在不同环境和发育阶段的适应性和生存策略,以关帝山典型森林分布区的青杄(Piceawilsonii)为对象,分析其叶片鲜干比、叶面积、叶绿素和C、N、P含量等重要功能性状在不同年龄(5、15、25、35、45a)和不同海拔梯度(1760、1820、1880、1940、2000m)上的变化,以及C、N、P在各器官间分配格局随年龄和海拔的时空变化。结果表明:1)随树龄的增加,青杄叶面积、叶鲜干比呈增大趋势,叶P和根P含量呈下降趋势,叶有机碳含量下调,但根有机碳在上调。2)随海拔增加,叶绿素、叶面积显著增加,叶有机碳呈下降趋势,而根有机碳在增加。叶、枝、根中的N、P含量均呈先增加后减小趋势,相比之下,N、P随海拔的变化较有机碳更为显著。3)随树龄增加,C、N、P在各器官间分配格局表现为:P在幼年时于叶、根中分配比例相对较大,成年时主要集中在枝中。在研究的5~45a范围内,N分配呈叶>枝>根的稳定格局,未随年龄而显著变化。有机碳则在各器官呈近乎均匀分配的基础上随年龄增加根中比例略有增大,相反叶中比例略有下降。C、N、P并未随海拔增加呈现各器官间分配格局上的显著变化。青杄各功能性状随年龄和海拔变化并通过在各器官间相互关联和协调分配来增强其生态适应性。     

Observation of superflow in solid helium

We report on the observation of nonclassical rotational inertia in solid helium-4 confined to an annular channel in a sample cell under torsional motion, demonstrating superfluid behavior. The effect shows up as a drop in the resonant oscillation period as the sample cell is cooled below 230 millikelvin. Measurement of 17 solid samples allows us to map out the boundary of this superfluid-like solid or supersolid phase from the melting line up to 66 bars. This experiment indicates that superfluid behavior is found in all three phases of matter.