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Plant growth and metabolism can be optimized by manipulating light intensity and wavelength. Since the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) allows easy regulation of the light spectrum, LEDs technology is largely tested to produce high-quality food. Red leaf chicory is a horticultural plant of high commercial value, rich in vitamins, minerals and phytochemical compounds with bioprotective and antioxidant roles. L. (Asteraceae family) seedlings of the cultivar Rossa di Treviso Precoce and Rossa di Treviso Tardiva were cultivated under blue and red LEDs for three to four weeks, whereas white LEDs, proving full visible light spectrum, were supplied as control. The leaf polyphenols were characterized and quantified by HPLC-DAD-Q-ToF analysis, the leaf chlorophyll content was measured using a handheld optical analyzer and the photosystem II efficiency was assessed with a porometer-fluorometer. The PS II efficiency decreased in response to red LEDs treatment only. The highest levels of polyphenol and chlorophyll content were registered in response to blue LEDs exposure in both cultivars. The Rossa di Treviso Tardiva also exhibited a significant accumulation of polyphenols under red LEDs compared to white LEDs. The polyphenolic composition of the two cultivars significantly changed depending on the type of LEDs used. The leaf extracts of plants grown under red LEDs showed a prevalence of kaempferol 3-O-glucuronide, whereas a predominance of quercetin derivatives was found in response to white and blue LEDs. The comparison of the two cultivars revealed that the Rossa di Treviso Precoce was characterized by a higher content of polyphenols, independently of the type of LEDs. Species-specific protocols are required for producing high-content nutrient vegetables. In our study, red LEDs induced a completely different leaf polyphenol composition than blue and white LEDs, pointing out that an accurate light spectrum selection is crucial for shaping plant metabolism. Blue LEDs improved the content of photosynthetic pigments and induced an accumulation of highly antioxidant polyphenols in both Rossa di Treviso Precoce and Tardiva cultivars, emerging as a valuable tool for improving their nutraceutical content.

Tomato mosaic disease, caused by tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), was studied under naturally elevated [CO2] concentrations to simulate the potential impacts of future climate scenarios on the ToMV–tomato pathosystem. Tomato plants infected with ToMV were cultivated under two distinct [CO2] environments: elevated [CO2] (naturally enriched to approximately 1000 μmol mol−1) and ambient [CO2] (ambient atmospheric [CO2] of 420 μmol mol−1). Key parameters, including phytopathological (disease index, ToMV gene expression), growth-related (plant height, leaf area), and physiological traits (chlorophyll content, flavonoid levels, nitrogen balance index), were monitored to assess the effects of elevated [CO2]. Elevated [CO2] significantly reduced the disease index from 2.4 under ambient [CO2] to 1.7 under elevated [CO2]. Additionally, viral RNA expression was notably lower in plants grown at elevated [CO2] compared to those under ambient [CO2]. While ToMV infection led to reductions in the chlorophyll content and nitrogen balance index and an increase in the flavonoid levels under ambient [CO2], these physiological effects were largely mitigated under elevated [CO2]. Infected plants grown at elevated [CO2] showed values for these parameters that approached those of healthy plants grown under ambient [CO2]. These findings demonstrate that elevated [CO2] helps to mitigate the effects of tomato mosaic disease and contribute to understanding how future climate scenarios may influence the tomato–ToMV interaction and other plant–pathogen interactions.

Plant physiological status is the interaction between the plant genome and the prevailing growth conditions. Accurate characterization of plant physiology is, therefore, fundamental to effective plant phenotyping studies; particularly those focused on identifying traits associated with improved yield, lower input requirements, and climate resilience. Here, we outline the approaches used to assess plant physiology and how these techniques of direct empirical observations of processes such as photosynthetic CO2 assimilation, stomatal conductance, photosystem II electron transport, or the effectiveness of protective energy dissipation mechanisms are unsuited to high-throughput phenotyping applications. Novel optical sensors, remote/proximal sensing (multi- and hyperspectral reflectance, infrared thermography, sun-induced fluorescence), LiDAR, and automated analyses of below-ground development offer the possibility to infer plant physiological status and growth. However, there are limitations to such ‘indirect’ approaches to gauging plant physiology. These methodologies that are appropriate for the rapid high temporal screening of a number of crop varieties over a wide spatial scale do still require ‘calibration’ or ‘validation’ with direct empirical measurement of plant physiological status. The use of deep-learning and artificial intelligence approaches may enable the effective synthesis of large multivariate datasets to more accurately quantify physiological characters rapidly in high numbers of replicate plants. Advances in automated data collection and subsequent data processing represent an opportunity for plant phenotyping efforts to fully integrate fundamental physiological data into vital efforts to ensure food and agro-economic sustainability.

Single-atom imaging resolution of many-body quantum systems in optical lattices is routinely achieved with quantum-gas microscopes. Key to their great versatility as quantum simulators is the ability to use engineered light potentials at the microscopic level. Here, we employ dynamically varying microscopic light potentials in a quantum-gas microscope to study commensurate and incommensurate 1D systems of interacting bosonic Rb atoms. Such incommensurate systems are analogous to doped insulating states that exhibit atom transport and compressibility. Initially, a commensurate system with unit filling and fixed atom number is prepared between two potential barriers. We deterministically create an incommensurate system by dynamically changing the position of the barriers such that the number of available lattice sites is reduced while retaining the atom number. Our systems are characterised by measuring the distribution of particles and holes as a function of the lattice filling, and interaction strength, and we probe the particle mobility by applying a bias potential. Our work provides the foundation for preparation of low-entropy states with controlled filling in optical-lattice experiments. The authors demonstrate a method controlling the lattice filling of doped 1D Bose-Hubbard system of Rb atoms composed of chains of 3 to 6 sites in an optical lattice. The control is achieved by changing of the light potential and interaction strength.

In this paper the evolution of the Northern Tuscany littoral cell is documented through a detailed analysis of the increasing anthropogenic pressure since the beginning of the 20th century. This sector of the Tuscany coast has been experiencing strong erosion effects that resulted in the loss of large volumes of sandy beaches. The anthropogenic impact on natural processes have been intensified by the construction of two ports in the early decades of the 20th century. Competent authorities reacted by building hard protection structures that tried to fix the position of the shoreline but offset the erosion drive downdrift. Therefore, in the last 20 years a regional Plan was undertaken to gradually replace the hard defense schemes with a softer approach, which involved a massive use of sediment redistribution activities. Many nourishments have been done ever since, using both sand and gravel. All these hard and soft protection operations have been archived in a geodatabase, and visualized in maps that clearly show the progressive change from hard to soft defense. This database may improve the approach to any future analysis of the littoral cell both in terms of research and management, while providing a practical example that may be easily replicated elsewhere.

Tomato mosaic disease, caused by tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), was studied under naturally elevated [CO ] concentrations to simulate the potential impacts of future climate scenarios on the ToMV-tomato pathosystem. Tomato plants infected with ToMV were cultivated under two distinct [CO ] environments: elevated [CO ] (naturally enriched to approximately 1000 μmol mol ) and ambient [CO ] (ambient atmospheric [CO ] of 420 μmol mol ). Key parameters, including phytopathological (disease index, ToMV gene expression), growth-related (plant height, leaf area), and physiological traits (chlorophyll content, flavonoid levels, nitrogen balance index), were monitored to assess the effects of elevated [CO ]. Elevated [CO ] significantly reduced the disease index from 2.4 under ambient [CO ] to 1.7 under elevated [CO ]. Additionally, viral RNA expression was notably lower in plants grown at elevated [CO ] compared to those under ambient [CO ]. While ToMV infection led to reductions in the chlorophyll content and nitrogen balance index and an increase in the flavonoid levels under ambient [CO ], these physiological effects were largely mitigated under elevated [CO ]. Infected plants grown at elevated [CO ] showed values for these parameters that approached those of healthy plants grown under ambient [CO ]. These findings demonstrate that elevated [CO ] helps to mitigate the effects of tomato mosaic disease and contribute to understanding how future climate scenarios may influence the tomato-ToMV interaction and other plant-pathogen interactions.

Tomato mosaic disease, caused by tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), was studied under naturally elevated [CO[sub.2]] concentrations to simulate the potential impacts of future climate scenarios on the ToMV–tomato pathosystem. Tomato plants infected with ToMV were cultivated under two distinct [CO[sub.2]] environments: elevated [CO[sub.2]] (naturally enriched to approximately 1000 μmol mol[sup.−1]) and ambient [CO[sub.2]] (ambient atmospheric [CO[sub.2]] of 420 μmol mol[sup.−1]). Key parameters, including phytopathological (disease index, ToMV gene expression), growth-related (plant height, leaf area), and physiological traits (chlorophyll content, flavonoid levels, nitrogen balance index), were monitored to assess the effects of elevated [CO[sub.2]]. Elevated [CO[sub.2]] significantly reduced the disease index from 2.4 under ambient [CO[sub.2]] to 1.7 under elevated [CO[sub.2]]. Additionally, viral RNA expression was notably lower in plants grown at elevated [CO[sub.2]] compared to those under ambient [CO[sub.2]]. While ToMV infection led to reductions in the chlorophyll content and nitrogen balance index and an increase in the flavonoid levels under ambient [CO[sub.2]], these physiological effects were largely mitigated under elevated [CO[sub.2]]. Infected plants grown at elevated [CO[sub.2]] showed values for these parameters that approached those of healthy plants grown under ambient [CO[sub.2]]. These findings demonstrate that elevated [CO[sub.2]] helps to mitigate the effects of tomato mosaic disease and contribute to understanding how future climate scenarios may influence the tomato–ToMV interaction and other plant–pathogen interactions.

Purpose - Flexible automated assembly is an emerging need in several industries. The purpose of this paper is to address the introduction of an innovative concept in flexible assembly: the fully flexible assembly system (F-FAS). Design/methodology/approach - After an analysis of the state of the art, the authors describe the proposed F-FAS, from a layout, constitutional elements, functioning principles and working cycle point of view. Second, the authors compare the traditional FAS and the manual assembly system versus the proposed F-FAS according to their throughput and unit production costs, deriving a convenience map as a function of the number of components used in assembly and of the efficiency of the F-FAS. Finally, using a prototype work cell developed at the Robotics Laboratory of University of Padua, the authors validate the F-FAS concept. Findings - Results of the research indicate that the concept of full-flexibility can be exploited to bring automation to a domain where traditional FAS are not competitive versus manual assembly. In fact, the F-FAS outperforms both traditional FAS and manual assembly, in terms of unit direct production costs, when the size of the batch is small, the number of components used in assembly is large and the efficiency of the F-FAS is reasonably high. The F-FAS prototype demonstrated the possibility of working, for certain conditions (models/components/production mix), in the F-FAS convenience area, highlighting the achievable cost reduction versus traditional assembly systems. Originality/value - The novelty of the study lies in the F-FAS concept, its performances in terms of flexibility, compactness, throughput and unit direct production costs. A prototype work cell validated the concept and demonstrated its viability versus traditional assembly systems, thanks to convenience analysis.