Construction of index system for external risk factors of disease on large-scale farm based on the analytic hierarchy process

AbstractAnimal health risk analysis technology on large-scale farm is becoming more important, but the assessment of relevant external risk factors of disease spreading into pig farm is an complex multi-dimensional process. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been accepted as a robust and flexible multi-criteria decision-making tool for dealing with complex decision problems. On this study, The index system of external risk factors on large-scale farm is built based on AHP. The result shows that farm management practices, Biosecurity and site are major risk factors and reveals AHP can be used in animal risk analysis for disease control and prevention

Amphibians and Reptiles of Dinghushan in Guangdong Province, China’s Oldest Nature Reserve

Dinghushan is the only nature reserve at the Tropic of Cancer in mainland China with extensive old growth monsoonal hardwood forest. We here assemble a comprehensive list, with life history notes, of amphibians and reptiles of Dinghushan. Relevant records were scattered over three centuries since the first in 1886. A total of 71 species are known to occur in the reserve, and this number of species per area far exceeds that predicted by classic island biogeographic theory. Among these 71 species, nine are new records: Five frogs (Amolops ricketti, Hylarana macrodactyla, Hylarana taipehensis, Odorrana schmackeri, and Occidozyga lima) and four snakes (Oligodon cinereus, Sinonatrix percarinata, Sinomicrurus macclellandi, and Trimeresurus stejnegeri). One undetermined skink may confound the generic definitions for the genera of Scincella and Sphenomorphus. Among these 71 species, 21 that are not closely associated with old growth forest have not been seen recently. Forest recovery and reforestation of farmland over five decades since the nature reserve was established in 1956 may have contributed to the decline of these species. Dinghushan has 97% of its species occurring strictly in the Oriental zone; among them, about 78% (55) occur both in the South China and Central China regions, 21% (15) occur only in the South China region, and one species was previously known only from the Central China region. The unique location of Dinghushan makes long-term monitoring of its herpetofaunal diversity important for future collaborative studies on a global scale

Amphibians and Reptiles of Dinghushan in Guangdong Province, China’s Oldest Nature Reserve

Dinghushan is the only nature reserve at the Tropic of Cancer in mainland China with extensive old growth monsoonal hardwood forest. We here assemble a comprehensive list, with life history notes, of amphibians and reptiles of Dinghushan. Relevant records were scattered over three centuries since the first in 1886. A total of 71 species are known to occur in the reserve, and this number of species per area far exceeds that predicted by classic island biogeographic theory. Among these 71 species, nine are new records: Five frogs (Amolops ricketti, Hylarana macrodactyla, Hylarana taipehensis, Odorrana schmackeri, and Occidozyga lima) and four snakes (Oligodon cinereus, Sinonatrix percarinata, Sinomicrurus macclellandi, and Trimeresurus stejnegeri). One undetermined skink may confound the generic definitions for the genera of Scincella and Sphenomorphus. Among these 71 species, 21 that are not closely associated with old growth forest have not been seen recently. Forest recovery and reforestation of farmland over five decades since the nature reserve was established in 1956 may have contributed to the decline of these species. Dinghushan has 97% of its species occurring strictly in the Oriental zone; among them, about 78% (55) occur both in the South China and Central China regions, 21% (15) occur only in the South China region, and one species was previously known only from the Central China region. The unique location of Dinghushan makes long-term monitoring of its herpetofaunal diversity important for future collaborative studies on a global scale

Ultraquantum magnetoresistance in Kramers Weyl semimetal candidate β\beta-Ag2Se

The topological semimetal $\beta$-Ag2Se features a Kramers Weyl node at the origin in momentum space and a quadruplet of spinless Weyl nodes, which are annihilated by spin-orbit coupling. We show that single crystalline $\beta$-Ag2Se manifests giant Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in the longitudinal magnetoresistance which stem from a small electron pocket that can be driven beyond the quantum limit by a field less than 9 T. This small electron pocket is a remainder of the spin-orbit annihilatedWeyl nodes and thus encloses a Berry-phase structure. Moreover, we observed a negative longitudinal magnetoresistance when the magnetic field is beyond the quantum limit. Our experimental findings are complemented by thorough theoretical band structure analyses of this Kramers Weyl semimetal candidate, including first-principle calculations and an effective k*p model.Comment: A new version based on arXiv:1502.0232

THE UPPER LIMB EMG ACTIVITY COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT TABLE TENNIS FOREHAND DRIVES

The purpose of this study was to combine dynamics and surface EMG methods to analyze the movements of table tennis forehand drives by Taiwan elite table tennis players performing straight and cross court forehand drives from topspin and backspin serves. The kinematical data were collected by 10 Vicon MX13+ high-speed cameras and one Biovision system was used to record the EMG signal of seven muscles groups on the dominate hand. The results showed that there were significant differences among the four table tennis drives. The players exerted greater muscular activity in the wrist extensors, the biceps and the triceps for the backspin serve forehand drive than when returning the topspin serve forehand drive, not only on the straight but also on the cross court strokes

Dynamic Response and Optimal Design of Curved Metallic Sandwich Panels under Blast Loading

It is important to understand the effect of curvature on the blast response of curved structures so as to seek the optimal configurations of such structures with improved blast resistance. In this study, the dynamic response and protective performance of a type of curved metallic sandwich panel subjected to air blast loading were examined using LS-DYNA. The numerical methods were validated using experimental data in the literature. The curved panel consisted of an aluminum alloy outer face and a rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) steel inner face in addition to a closed-cell aluminum foam core. The results showed that the configuration of a “soft” outer face and a “hard” inner face worked well for the curved sandwich panel against air blast loading in terms of maximum deflection (MaxD) and energy absorption. The panel curvature was found to have a monotonic effect on the specific energy absorption (SEA) and a nonmonotonic effect on the MaxD of the panel. Based on artificial neural network (ANN) metamodels, multiobjective optimization designs of the panel were carried out. The optimization results revealed the trade-off relationships between the blast-resistant and the lightweight objectives and showed the great use of Pareto front in such design circumstances